Vertical farming at the University of Wageningen

"My name is Seppe Salari, we are currently in Wageningen and I’m studying plant sciences here. This is my home and here I’m growing plants, fish, insects and mushrooms in a sort of vertical farm. An aquaponics system, a combination of fish and plants. The fish, produce feces that need to filtered out of the water and the plants can do that. The plants recieve their nutrients from the filtration process. You don’t need any fertiliser because the fish provide the fertiliser and the plants provide water for the fish. So it a win win for both of them.

I start with growing with black solider fly larve. I have flies in a cage and they lay eggs that I use to produce new larve. These larve grow on food waste, so if you don’t finish your plate, you can put it into a container with a eggs and after a few weeks you have new larves. These larves are used to feed my fish in my aquaponics system. So the food that the fish turn into feces is then filtered by my plants. It has a container with clay beads which turn into ammonia, that the fish produce, into nitrate. Nitrate, plants can take up, so the plants are fertilised by the fish and the fish get clean water.

My dream is to turn this sytem into a big vertical farm producing tonnes of food and using a waste of a city and turn it back into food. So if you're interested in what I’m doing, feel free to contact me and maybe we can work together to make this vision a reality."

Do you want to know more or maybe help Seppe Salari? Please contact one of our team members!

Author: University of Wageningen