Briefs: Tilapia in the news

Raising the Roof

Surely you’ve come to expect to see tilapia living in streams and lakes or being farmed in ponds and other freshwater pens. The folks behind Brooklyn-based startup Verticulture Farms LLC, have raised those expectations – quite literally.

Aquaponics are the way for Verticulture Farms, which opened its first prototype pen on top of an old Pfizer Inc. factory in Williamsburg Brooklyn, Forbes reports. Verticulture is farming tilapia (280 presently) with other plant-life growing in water instead of soil, on rooftops in urban landscapes. All the basil, mint and other greens included in the farm are pesticide-free – even the pesticides okayed for use in organic farms aren’t present in Verticulture’s plant-life because it could kill the fish.

Ryan Morningstar, an economics major in college, who has worked for nonprofit groups improving access to healthy food in urban food deserts and is one of Verticulture’s founders, is hoping their model of farm can compete with Chinese tilapia imports.

“We’re trying to rebrand tilapia because it’s a beautiful fish,” Morningstar told Forbes. “They’re resilient, they grow really quickly, they have a high protein content and you get a lot of meat out of each one of the cuts.”

“We do believe the product we sell is going to be different,” he added. “It’s not just going to be tilapia. It’s going to be born and raised on a rooftop in Brooklyn.”

Learn more about Verticulture Farms here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/verticulture-farms-aquaponic-startup-brooklyn-ny#/story