Agriloops - reinventing aquaculture

by Startacus Admin

 

The lowdown on Agriloops, the French foodtech startup, that's innovating how shrimp is farmed by using aquaponics

Most current shrimp farming is so overcrowded and unsanitary that the farming companies use large amounts of antibiotics, pesticides, and various other chemicals in order to try to prevent diseases spreading among the shrimp. Many of these chemicals aren’t even legal in some countries, like the US and the UK, and naturally some of this remains in the shrimp that the consumer receives. 

In addition, shrimp farms can be harmful to the surrounding environment, with these chemicals and antibiotics, organic waste, and saltwater all seeping into groundwater and into agricultural land. Topping this off with the fact that shrimp farmers have irreparably destroyed around 38% of the world’s mangroves in order to create shrimp farms, it’s clear that shrimp farming isn’t exactly good for the environment and needs disruption.

French foodtech startup Agriloops is taking a new approach to the way shrimp is farmed, using aquaponics. With this way of farming, they can produce shrimp without pesticides, sulfites, or antibiotics, and the organic waste that the shimp create goes into fertiliser to help grow vegetables and herbs. In this way, the impact on the environment and surrounding ecosystem is drastically reduced.

The French consume close to 120,000 tonnes of shrimp every year, which not only helps ensure the sustainability and profitability of Agriloops’ business, but also means that the shrimp can go fresh from their farms to local consumers without ever being frozen or shipped around the world, spending who knows how long sitting in containers. Consumers always receive fresh shrimp that tastes exactly the way it should.

Agriloops is still in its early stages, with just one pilot farm, created in the founders’ school, and their full launch into operation should be complete by 2022, having been slowed somewhat by the pandemic. Their initial production goal is 20 tonnes of shrimp and 40 tonnes of vegetables per year.

We look forward to seeing how they are doing next year, and how their plans for diversification develop going forward.

 If you're interested in innovative startups like this, then why not check out Better Origin, the startup that's on a mission to fix the food chain.

 

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• #innovation
• #aquaponics
• #france
• #
• #foodtech

Published on: 27th April 2021