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The Challenge

Two of the fastest growing food sectors are organic food and fresh seafood, but both sectors have come under increasing pressure.

Organically produced food is recognised as being not only healthier for consumers, but also more sustainable for the environment. However, the added costs to organic farmers of “going the extra mile” for the environment often means losing many of the efficiencies of conventional ‘industrialized’ agriculture.

The additional costs of organic agriculture raise shelf prices beyond the reach of mainstream customers, holding back the organic industry from delivering significant environmental and health benefits to a waiting world. Large volume buyers require a consistent supply of quality produce at a commercially viable price, which organic producers presently struggle to deliver mainly because the organic supply chain has a limited array of tools to counter unpredictable weather and pests, and often has a broken cold chain, or requires multiple handling.

At the same time many of the world’s great ocean fisheries are collapsing under the relentless pressure of over-fishing. Aquaculture, long heralded as a solution to the fall in wild-catch, has also run into limitations, in particular due to problems caused by the enormous quantities of effluent that such operations release into the environment every day.

The UES solution

UES’s solution to these challenges is a state-of- the art, combined aquaculture-horticulture system.

One of the fundamental principles of organic farming is to manage the nutrients cycling with-in the farm system; wherever possible, making the waste stream from one process the feedstock for another.

By taking the effluent from aquaculture and safely processing it to create an allowable input to organic food production, UES Farms turn a waste stream into a revenue stream.

UES’s propriety patent-pending technology not only solves aquaculture effluent problems, but also brings a range of previously unattainable cost-savings to organic production.

Clever science has been used to bring commercial efficiencies to the natural processes of organic food production delivering major savings in energy, water, labour and production costs.

Based on an accredited organic compost and other allowable inputs, UES’s (certifiable) organic farming system is combined with leading aquaculture and greenhouse production systems, housed within a state-of-the art climate-controlled greenhouse.

The farm system is modular and scalable making it adaptable and configurable to individual requirements, offering attractive niche business opportunities for wholesalers, food franchise and chains, eco-resorts and remote communities.

How it works

1. Fingerlings-are housed in multiple tanks where they grow to harvestable size.

2. The waste from the fish is processed by UES’ patent-pending bio-converter, turning an effluent that would otherwise be toxic to the environment into an allowable input for certifiable organic production, which is used to irrigate the plants above.

3. Plant seedlings are grown in an organic compost plug and are supplemented by the flow of organic nutrients from the bio-converter.

4. Clean water, its nutrients having been taken up by the plants, flows back down to the fish.

Training & Technical Support

UES will monitor and manage the system’s production through an UES trained full-time farm manager. The farm manager supervises the farm’s operations and functions as an efficient link between the farm owner and UES’s technical support services.

One of UES’s key advantages is its 24/7 remote monitoring system providing instant technical support.

Consumables

Basic consumables will include organic plant supplements, fingerlings, seeds or seedlings and fish-food.

UES supplies consumables to UES farms at very low margins above cost prices, leveraging its bulk purchasing power to ensure that these prices will be highly competitive. This pricing policy is intended to ensure the competitive advantage for the farm and to ensure that only suitable and best-quality inputs will be used in UES farms.