Connecting Torontonians with their food through aquaponics
Customers will be able to buy fish and local, organic greens any time of year, says Mr. Alvarez, an entrepreneur and long-time waiter who wants to connect people with their food.
But for now his aquaponics farm – a self-contained ecosystem in which fish swimming in huge vats provide nutrients for plants floating above on foam pads, which in turn clean the water for the tilapia – is relegated to a 3,000-square-foot industrial park near Pearson International Airport.
Before they set up their current location in September of 2014, Mr. Alvarez and partner Craig Petten were denied permission to launch in Toronto proper, given that the city’s zoning bylaws don’t allow agricultural operations. It’s a pain point for the small business, which supplies produce – the tilapia aren’t for sale yet – to multiple restaurants in the downtown core.
The bootstrapped startup is at full capacity, producing about 12,000 plants a month with 5,000 tilapia. The guys behind Aqua Greens say the business will make its way into the black in the coming months, more than a year after the first harvest.
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