2' min read
2' min read
Ready to produce four times as much. And with respect for environmental sustainability and water saving. The Circle, the first aquaponic farm of Roman origin and the largest in Europe, has announced that it has extended the surface area of its Roman plant to 12,500 square metres. An expansion that will allow the company to increase the number of plants in production from 42,000 to 200,000 per month by autumn. An increase that will also help the company reach its goal of 500 companies served by 2025.
The operation of The Circle, which recorded a turnover of EUR 353,000 in 2022, followed the closing of a EUR 2.1 million financing round, led by Opes Italia, a venture capital fund operating in the field of impact investing, with a minority stake in Sparviero Holding.
The new plant has been designed according to the principles of environmental sustainability in a combination of innovation that has led to combining cultivation and fish breeding to reduce polluting emissions and water waste. On the one hand, in fact, there are large tanks, where the fish are kept, whose water and the waste substances it contains are filtered thanks to bacteria present in the structure of the production site and which reproduce the filtering process of natural soil. The water is then conveyed into vertical towers that house plants, which absorb the necessary nutrients and, at the same time, purify the excess water that will return to the fish tanks, allowing them to grow.
Thanks to this system, a saving of 180 litres of water per kg of product is achieved, a reduction of over 90% in pollutant emissions, and the elimination of the use of fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides.
An investment and a plant that have aroused the enthusiasm of the company's founders: 'We are really proud of the enormous steps forward made in recent years, and the opening of the new, even more technological and more sustainable plant in Rome is proof that we are on the right track. The Circle's goal now is to consolidate its presence in Italy and then open up to the international market, to countries where there is a strong focus on and sensitivity to environmental issues," said Thomas Marino, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of The Circle.
