A Japanese start-up has combined strawberry growing with trout farming in a single indoor aquaponics system that needs no added fertiliser, offering a two-for-one route to food production.
The Japanese venture, Aquponi, links the fish and the crop in one closed loop: trout are raised in tanks, their nutrient-rich water feeds the strawberry plants, and the plants in turn help keep the water clean for the fish.
The heart of the system is a specially designed fish feed. The company says the feed is formulated to benefit both the fish and the plants, which is why the growing beds need no supplementary fertiliser.
According to the firm, the method yields sweeter strawberries, along with fish that carry less fat and less odour.
The indoor set-up, which the start-up calls a circular solution, can grow strawberries all year round without pesticides, chemical fertilisers or herbicides.
Beyond strawberries, the company says it has also managed to grow tomatoes in the same system, suggesting the approach could be extended to other crops.
Aquaponics, which pairs fish farming with soil-free crop production, has drawn rising interest as a way to save water and cut chemical inputs, while a closed indoor system allows harvests the year round whatever the weather outside.
Photo: Vasch~nlwiki / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: AgNavigator
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