LONDON -- Pentair is teaming up with aquaponics farming company Urban Organics to open an 87,000-square-foot indoor farm in St. Paul, Minnesota. The urban farm will have the capacity to grow 175,000 pounds of fish and 475,000 pounds of organic produce annually. According to a Pentair release, Urban Organics will use water filtration technology developed by Pentair. The technology allows the farm to decouple fish water from plant water, allowing Urban Organics to raise its fish species in cold water environments and plants in warm water environments. The technology also allows the farmers to divert waste nutrients from the fish water for use in plant water. Pentair and Urban Organics first partnered in 2014, when UO opened its inaugural aquaponics farm. \ More from the release: Our collaboration with Pentair has helped us achieve our vision of creating a new model for urban agriculture that ensures access to healthy foods, while using less than two percent of the water consumed by traditional agriculture," said David Haider, Co-founder of Urban Organics. "Our local market will get the benefit of our fish and greens, but there will also be a worldwide benefit as we continue to learn from this model and apply its lessons to other locations in the future." Fish and produce production at Urban Organics is underway, and the farm is expected to be at full capacity in early 2018. Fully certified by the USDA as an organic produce farm, Urban Organics is growing a variety of fresh greens, including green and red kale, arugula, bok choy, green and red romaine, Swiss chard, and green and red leaf lettuce, alongside sustainably-raised Atlantic salmon and arctic char. Urban Organics is distributing its fish and produce at regional supermarkets, co-ops and restaurants. And, in a first-of-its-kind partnership in Minnesota, Urban Organics is working with HealthPartners hospitals and clinics to put its fresh greens in patient meals, cafeteria salad bars, and retail take-out locations.
Wed, 06/21/2017 - 09:33