“Wet cultivation” at Tromp Aquafarming

27 March 2025

In 2020, Food Pioneers facilitated a collaboration between several Flevoland-based companies, including AquaGrow, Algaspring, and Tromp Aquafarming. This was part of research into “wet cultivation,” a concept that combines aquaculture (fish farming) with hydroponics (growing vegetables in water) in a closed, circular system.

Some vegetables can grow more efficiently with their roots in water rather than in soil. In these systems, plants sit in channels or tubes with water flowing through them. As long as the water contains enough nutrients, plants grow perfectly well. This model is widely used in greenhouse horticulture.

But where do those nutrients come from? Often, they come from synthetic fertilizer. However, they can also come from other sources - such as fish waste. And that’s where this research gets interesting.

In fish farming, especially in a closed tank system, the water needs to be refreshed or treated to maintain quality. That wastewater contains fish manure. It may sound unappealing, but for plants it’s a nutrient source. This makes it possible to reuse fish-farming wastewater to feed water-based crops.

Food Pioneers explored this integrated cultivation approach. The goal was to identify which salt-tolerant vegetables and herbs can thrive alongside fish farming in salt water.

The research was carried out by researchers from Aeres University of Applied Sciences (Dronten).