UrbanFarmers: Fish Farm...

Our next stop was the Urban Farm, Europe’s largest rooftop farm, housed in an old Philip’s phone and television factory built in the 1950s.

The first stop on our tour was the fish farm, which supplies local restaurants with 500 tilapia per week. We looked pretty silly when we donned clothing to protect the fish and veggies from possible contamination.

This closed system was quite fascinating. Baby fish are brought in from another city; bigger fish are housed in other tanks. They’re all fed by the automated green system hanging above the tanks.

The fish will eventually be killed by electrical stunning.

This tank collects the fish poop. Bacteria converts the waste ammonia into nitrates to fertilize the plants grown on the rooftop farm. The plants are grown without soil and purify the water that will be reused for fish production. This ancient and sustainable food production technique is known as aquaponics, which can save up to 90% water usage compared to separate systems.