Future Farming

This interview details Future Farming, an indoor farming company based in the Czech Republic. The interview is with Michal Fojtík, CEO of Future Farming.

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What is the origin story of Future Farming?

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Future Farming is a concept of modern agriculture. The basic part of the process is aquaponics farms. Farms produce fish and vegetables. We find out that there is no infrastructure for this kind of agriculture in central and eastern Europe. We have to bring to life more businesses covering supplies for aquaponics. We are now operating fish food production, processing facilities, a laboratory for analytical services for modern agriculture, a fish nursery, research development and distribution, and logistics services.

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Future Farming was founded 5 years ago by connecting investment group GFF and company AQUAPONICS. During this period we build 3 farms in Czech Republic. Now we are building farms in Slovakia, Poland, and soon in Austria. 

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We are now in the transformation process. We are going to become an international company and we are looking for international management and covering by big partner.

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What are some of the biggest challenges facing Future Farming in the future?

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There are many challenges coming up. One of the biggest challenges is standardization. We have to transfer our technologies from prototype to standard product. We have been working on it for the last year and have reached some checkpoints, but for scaling up we have to finish this procedure. We want to provide aquaponics, hydroponics, or fish farms with a standard product with defined inputs and outputs for reasonable prices and on different scales. 

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Other challenges will be the high demand for information transfer from producers to customers. Very important is the marketing of the new products and the general public must know the environmental and health benefits of the production.

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What is unique about Future Farming compared to competitors?

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We are not only growers or breeders. Even not only farmers. We can provide supplies during all year (seedlings, seeds, services, fish fry, training, fertilizers from fish farms, etc…). We also close chain from farmers to customers and we run a franchise environmental and healthy fast food called “Farmia Food Point”.

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What is the current size of your growing area? 

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Actually running :

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Indoor rack vegetable and herbs system - 800 sqm

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Greenhouse vertical NFT system - 3000 sqm

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Greenhouse horizontal DWC system - 3000 sqm

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Rainbow Trout Farm - 800 sqm - 50 tons per year

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African Catfish Farm - 800 sqm - 100 tons per year

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Do you use CO2 in your operation today -- if so, how much and what do you pay for it? What are your thoughts in CO2 usage in indoor farms? 

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We are using only CO2 generated by bio-filters during the nitrification process in our fish farms. No external source. We believe that lack of CO2 can significantly reduce the growing rate, especially in high-density growing areas. Plants can very quickly absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and inhibit growth. Also important aspect of adding CO2 is correlation between CO2, light intensity, temperature, humidity, and nutrients. If other aspects are not good is useless to add CO2.

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Energy is a big topic in indoor farming right now. How much do you pay for electricity (kWh)? Is it mainly from the grid or renewables?

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Mainly grid - 0,23 EUR per kWh - renewables are our next topic for the future.

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How can people connect with you or learn more about Future Farming?

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Our projects here :

www.futurefarming.cz

www.organta.eu

www.aaqp.eu

www.aquaponik.cz

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