Creative Reuse Nets Local Food

What can you do with an old crane factory? Turn it into a fish farm, and a hydroponic produce operation.

1 minute read

May 17, 2010, 12:00 PM PDT

By Cathy Duchamp


MacArthur Fellow Will Allen pioneered the idea of raising fish and vegetables together to create jobs and healthy foods close to where people live. The concept is now an actual business in Milwaukee called Sweet Water Organics.

Co-founder Josh Fraundorf tells the Wall Street Journal the operation is "like an indoor wetlands." Farm-raised perch grow in tanks inside a factory that stood empty for decades. The perch poop becomes food for lettuce growing on trays above the tanks.

Sweet Water has yet to show a profit, but there are plans to expand, capitalizing on a Wisconsin's appetite for fried perch.

Friday, May 14, 2010 in Wall Street Journal

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