1. General information
2. Objectives of the intervention
Goals of the intervention
The goal of the farm was to innovate the production of what is equivalent to the energy and consumption needs of four people for one year in its publicly distributed form (Ref. 3, 6). The goal of the system is also to be 100% self-sufficient (Ref. 6). The ozarium's reduction of water usage also has the potential to advantage cities or countries in situations of water stress (Ref. 5).
Quantitative targets
- To grow vegetables with 90% less water than in conventional agriculture (Ref. 4)
- the system is to be limited to using 3,000 liters of water (3m3) for the 15m2 scale of operations conducted at the farm (Ref. 8)
- 800kg of vegetables grown and produces 400 fish per year (Ref. 19)
- the system is to be limited to using 3,000 liters of water (3m3) for the 15m2 scale of operations conducted at the farm (Ref. 8)
- 800kg of vegetables grown and produces 400 fish per year (Ref. 19)
Monitoring indicators defined
Water usage, kg of vegetables grown and fish produced per year (Ref. 4, 19).
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Please specify "other Type of NBS project"
Installation of ozarium farm (a vegetable aquarium)
Implementation activities
Pierre Osswald launched the Citizen Farm project in 2013 (Ref. 13). One year of work was necessary to develop the first test of this unique product in France, (Ref. 9) which is based on the combination of a greenhouse and an aquarium, all housed on and in a container. The farm is the size of a parking space (13m2 and 15m2) (Ref. 5, 6, 11). The challenge of the project was to find the right balance between the number of fish, the type of plants and the amount produced to feed four people. The product was sold on the internet (Ref. 10). Osswald targeted businesses, communities, real estate developers and states with several business models in North America and Europe (Ref. 5, 6). Citizen Farm hosted visiting schoolchildren year round while dishes are prepared by chefs twice a week, (Ref. 3, 11) while surplus production will be given to associations (Ref. 8). It also organised practical workshops on insect hotel creations or seed dispensers etc. (Ref. 12). By mid-2016 the start-up had 4 employees (Ref. 6). Upon filing for bankruptcy in 2018, CitizenFarm employed 10 people and “…had succeeded in attracting 6,000 private customers and had installed seven aquaponics farms throughout France” (Ref. 35).
Type of NBS project
3. NBS domains, ES and scale
4. Governance and financing
5. Innovation
Type of innovation
Please specify technological innovation
PRODUCT: Based on a culture technique called aquaponia, the ozarium allows to grow all kinds of plants and vegetables indoors, in an entirely natural way. No need for fertilizer or watering: Plants feed on the nutrients in the aquarium water and fish discharges. In return, they purify and oxygenate fish water. An ecological innovation which is surfacing the "eco-responsible" trend (Ref. 1).
Novelty level of the innovation
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
The urban farm is both noted and claimed as being the first of its kind, and is based on Osswald's experiences as a BA student at Toulouse Business School in China and motivated by his experiences of urban living and food consumption growing up with his Tarnais farming grandfather (Ref. 5, 7, 11, 17). Aquapony itself however is not recent and in fact dates from the Antiquity and was used especially in Mesoamerican cultures (Ref. 22, 24).
Replicability/Transferability
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Very pleased with the start-up, Pierre Osswald deployed his urban farming innovation as a new product on May 9, 2016. The first copy was installed in the Raymond 6 garden in Toulouse (behind the Abattoir Museum in the St Cyprien district). "It is a real urban farm, and we are going to produce food (vegetables + trout) all year round, on the same space it takes to create a parking space. "Based on the same principle of culture as Ozarium, this first urban Citizenfarm farm will be open to the public, and tastings will be organized with a chef.", says Pierre (Ref. 1). An experiment similar to that conducted in Toulouse also occurred in Montreal late 2016 (Ref. 5, 6). Another prototype is situated on the banks of the river Garonne, (Ref. 13) and another at the Roofs Solid'Air Salvation Army foyer in Reims. (22, 33) The start-up participated in a call for projects in Paris and aims to open a large 200-square-meter aquaponic farm in Toulouse in partnership with a local school that will lend the land (Ref. 16).
