IRE Aquaponics Team Visits Victus Farms

This semester the Iron Range Engineering Aquaponics Design Team toured Victus Farms.  Victus Farms is an aquaponic growing facility located in the Silver Bay Eco-Industrial Park in Silver Bay, Minnesota.  The facility is owned by the City of Silver Bay and leased by the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Center for Sustainable Community Development.  The building is an 8,600 square foot facility producing tilapia, lettuce, basil, and kale 365 days a year.  It is a proof-of-concept facility and is currently being used to conduct research.  There are plans in place to build a 26,000 square foot commercial facility which will employ the same technology while using improved concepts attained through the results of this research.  

The idea behind aquaponics is to use fish waste, which is transformed from ammonia to nitrate by nitrifying bacteria, to feed plants.  The plants, in turn, clean the water for the fish.  This is an ecological cycle with numerous benefits.  Some benefits include:

• fish and greens, such as kale, can be grown using this process in Minnesota in the middle of winter
• products from one process that would otherwise be considered waste are used as an inputs to subsequent processes
• very little water is used in this process compared to traditional agricultural practices
• systems can range in size from desktop, to back yard, to industrial

Viewing the process of aquaponics on such a large scale was an excellent experience.  It is a privilege to have access to fresh, local fish and produce here in northern Minnesota.  There is something to be gained from observing such an efficient process in which the output of one step is the input to another.   As engineers, we can learn from this type of process to build a better, more resourceful future.  

 

The Iron Range Engineering Aquaponics Team is currently working to design and build a mobile aquaponics system that will be used to educate k-12 grade students, college students, and the community.  Look for it at the Iron Range Earth Festival on Saturday, April 26 in Mountain Iron.  

Proofread by Sue Benolken