{"id":978,"date":"2021-11-15T08:55:50","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T13:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.seagrant.w3.uvm.edu\/2021\/11\/15\/producing-sustainable-greens-from-the-ark-in-northern-vermont\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T17:49:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T21:49:14","slug":"producing-sustainable-greens-from-the-ark-in-northern-vermont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/2021\/11\/15\/producing-sustainable-greens-from-the-ark-in-northern-vermont\/","title":{"rendered":"Producing Sustainable Greens from the Ark in Northern Vermont"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Eco-Ark at Finn and Roots<\/a> in Bakersfield, Vermont doesn\u2019t float, but it does carry an impressive array and quantity of edible plants that would have made Noah proud. Part greenhouse and part fish house, the Eco-Ark is surprisingly small given the amount of produce grown. Finn and Roots is a commercial-scale aquaponics farm located about 17 miles south of the Canadian border in northern Vermont. They grow vegetables year-round and produce tender greens even in the clutches of northern Vermont\u2019s winters.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s lovely in here in the winter,\u201d says president and operator Holly Counter-Beaver about the glassed-in greenhouse, custom-built to house the vegetable operation. \u201cOn a sunny day it can be warm and humid, even in February. It\u2019s a welcome change from the dry air in the house and the frigid temperatures outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe scenery is stunning, located near the Cold Hollow Mountains in one of a myriad of small valleys in northwest Vermont. A small orchard flanks the Eco-Ark greenhouse, with a managed woodlot gently sloping away from the orchard and Ark to a small stream a quarter mile into the woods.<\/p>\n

\n\tFinn and Roots uses aquaponics, a method of high-density agriculture that combines aquaculture and hydroponics. Aquaculture, the growing of food in water, aka water-farming, is usually associated with large salmon farms in the ocean or oyster shellfish operations along the coast. However, aquaculture is also practiced inland in land-locked states all over the United States.<\/p>\n

\n\tInland or land-based aquaculture operators grow fish, shrimp, and algae in a wide array of production systems, from home-made to high volume commercial systems that cost millions of dollars to install. Including Finn and Roots, Vermont has seven aquaculture producers, most operating small, custom-built systems.<\/p>\n

\n\tHydroponics is the practice of growing plants without soil. Certain plants, like leafy greens and fruiting vegetables, for example cucumbers, grow extremely well in just water. Hydroponics uses floating rafts or non-soil media to hold plants whose roots are immersed in nutrient rich water. The plants grow at astounding rates, often in a greenhouse structure with supplemental artificial lighting.<\/p>\n

\n\tAquaponics puts these two growing systems together. At Finn and Roots, freshwater fish culture is combined with a large number of grow tables to make an indoor, hi-tech farm. The fish provide nutrients and one potential sales product, and the plants use the nutrients, clean the water for the fish, and provide a second sales product.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe fish and plants have a symbiosis,\u201d Counter-Beaver says, while looking over one of the 4500-gallon tanks in the Eco-Ark that is home to over two hundred tilapia each. Tilapia are a tropical fish from northern Africa that has been used for aquaculture for thousands of years. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe use our tilapia to run a decoupled aquaponic system,\u201d says Counter-Beaver. \u201cThat means we add water from the fish tanks to the grow tables a little at a time to keep the conditions just right for our leafy greens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 6,000-square-foot facility uses over 60 shallow water tables to grow more than 600 heads of lettuce a week. They also grow cucumbers, bell peppers, and micro-greens, and soon, tomatoes, as well.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe tilapia don\u2019t eat that much,\u201d she says, as a thick layer of cream-colored tilapia rise up from the tea-colored water to stare inquisitively at their caretaker, hopeful that feeding time has come early. \u201cSome places sell their fish but we don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCounter-Beaver says that her four 4500-gallon tanks are well-balanced with the right amount of space for fish and their nutrient production, which is more valuable to her than the revenue that might come from selling tilapia commercially.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTilapia get a bad rap,\u201d Counter-Beaver says. Unfortunately, consumers don\u2019t realize that locally grown tilapia are free from the chemicals and hormones often found in Chinese operations that have marred the reputation of this white-fleshed food fish.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey\u2019re generally not on the top of people\u2019s buy list for fish,\u201d she continues, \u201cand where we\u2019re located isn\u2019t conducive to getting regular fish shipments out to market.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cProcessing is difficult in Vermont as well,\u201d Counter-Beaver admits. \u201cThere aren\u2019t any central locations I can send fish to for fileting, and our location makes transportation a challenge. So, we would have to do it in-house, and that would be expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn fact, processing is a problem all around the region. There\u2019s a catch-22 between production volume and processing capacity. For a processor to make a living and justify the equipment, they would need a certain volume of plate-sized fish. Those are fish about 13 inches in length that can take upwards of two years to grow.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor aquaculture producers in the Lake Champlain basin to expand to meet that need, they would have to know that a processor was nearby and could take their fish when ready. Those are two difficult conditions to meet at the same time. Consequently, most aquaculture producers in Vermont concentrate on stocking-sized fish, about six inches in length, that take just a year to grow.<\/p>\n

\n\tFinn and Roots sells their greens as whole heads and in mixed bags to Vermont grocers and restaurants between St. Albans, Burlington, and as far south as Shelburne. Winter is their best season as there are few locally-produced, delicate greens available after the first frost; however, Finn and Roots’ produce is available year-round.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re here because we wanted to contribute something tangible and meaningful to the communities around us, and I thought, what\u2019s more meaningful than food,\u201d says Counter-Beaver.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou can buy Finn and Roots products at Wood Meadow Market, Rail City Market, Healthy Living Markets, City Markets, Sweet Clover Market, and Shelburne Market.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo learn more about aquaculture in the Lake Champlain basin, contact the author Theodore Willis, Lake Champlain Sea Grant\u2019s Aquaculture Education Specialist, at theodore.willis<\/span> [at] uvm.edu<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Eco-Ark at Finn and Roots in Bakersfield, Vermont doesn\u2019t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1299,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978\/revisions\/1299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=978"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}