UK: Bristol’s urban farmers turn to aquaponics

“We can grow food for money, or we can grow food for people,” says Alice-Marie Archer, founder of Bristol Fish Project. “We need to figure out the line between the two.”

A Community Interest Company (CIC), the project was founded in 2011, when Archer sought a solution to the challenges of increasing urban waste. Dismayed by the repercussions of the corporate agriculture systems, she saw that aquaponics could be used to not only recycle waste to grow food sustainably, but also help conservation efforts and a disadvantaged community.

Bristol Fish Project has an important conservation role, receiving funding from the European Marine Fisheries Fund to build and run an eel conservation project. Some 5,000 eels now make up the heart of their aquaponic system.

But one of its key benefits which reaches beyond that of conversation, recycling and sustainability is its community impact. To help grow this, earlier this year Bristol Fish Project received a loan of £20,000 from Big Issue Invest’s Impact Loans England (ILE) fund. ILE is funded through the Growth Fund, which is managed by Access – The Foundation for Social Investment, with funding from Big Lottery Fund and Big Society Capital.

Read more at The Big Issue (Dionne Kennedy)