Vietnamese fishermen grow upmarket produce in water laced with fish crud

  • 15 Jan 2014
David Nguyen


In New Orleans, a collective of Vietnamese fishermen left jobless after the 2010 BP oil spill has found a new enterprise: growing upmarket produce in water laced with fish crud.

The Village de l'Est Green Growers Initiative -- Veggi -- uses aquaponics (that's aquaculture + hydroponics), adding bacteria to basins full of water and fish such as minnows and koi to convert the ammonia in the piscine poop to nitrates. Seedlings, their roots bathed in this nourishing brew, grow big and strong. The system leverages the fishermen's know-how and yields larger, healthier crops with less land and water than traditional methods.

So far Veggi has sold 4,500 kilograms of produce, and the harvest usually heads to high-end eateries, such as US TV chef Emeril Lagrasse's restaurant, Emeril's. It's hyperlocal, hyperefficient and hyperhelpful.