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in a recirculating, closed-loop
ecosystem. Instead of soil, the plant
roots are grown in nutrient-rich,
highly oxygenated water fed by fish
waste. Natural bacterial cycles are
used to convert fish waste into plant
nutrients, and plants in turn clean
and filter the water that returns to
the fish environment.
Not only does the indoor
aquaponic model offer growers
a way to get around increasingly
volatile climate change conditions
and grow food year-round, but
it also offers a more sustainable,
water-friendly solution to
agriculture.
“We use 98 percent less water
than traditional agriculture,”
Alvarez says. “You have the issues
in California. Ninety percent of
our leafy greens are grown in
Arizona—are we contributing to
their drought? Water especially will
be a huge issue in our futures. You
can see it now.”
Alvarez and his partner, Craig
Petten, had 25 years under their belts
in hospitality when they decided to go
back to school to study sustainability.
“We were both approaching
40 and had a common interest in
sustainability and a passion for
food. It’s what ignited this whole
journey for us,” Alvarez says.
The friends started researching
and honed in on sustainable food
systems around the world, in
particular urban farming. “We’re
importing food from other places in
the world and that isn’t sustainable;
we need to grow food for ourselves,
and indoor farming allows that to
happen. Urban farming allows
cities to provide food for cities,”
Alvarez says.
In their research, they came
across aquaponics, and the rest, as
they say, is history. “Aquaponics is
really the most efficient way to grow
food, and the most economical and
sustainable,” Alvarez says.To prepare themselves for their
new venture, Alvarez and Petten
went to aqua grower seminars
and surrounded themselves with
mentors. “We visited about 10 farms
to absorb as much as we could,”
Alvarez says.
Still, their indoor farm came
with challenges their homework
didn’t prepare them for, including
finding a property owner who would
let them rent the space: many were
concerned about humidity and what
they might be growing there.
“We were also almost stopped
by the City of Mississauga because
they didn’t know what aquaponics
was and because we didn’t fall
into industrial, commercial or
office space. They had to revise
the zoning of the space to allow for
agriculture,” Alvarez says.
In addition to the aquaponics-
based system, another important
feature of their urban farm is its
stacked design. “What we do is
vertical farming. With conventionalWater tanks in a Back40growers grow room. The tanks are filled with RO (reverse osmosis) water, containing nutrients
that are automatically supplied. After fish waste has been digested through naturally occurring microbial processes, the
nutrient-rich water is pumped into these water tanks as well.BOB LEGAULT