Brussels' FoodMet to get largest rooftop aquaponics farm in Europe

FoodMet, the covered food hall in Anderlecht which opened its doors in May, is to be fitted with an urban farm on its roof from 2016. The 4,000 square-metre state-of-the-art rooftop farm will feature greenhouses for aquaponics - the combination of fish farming and vegetable cultivation without soil. The greenhouses will cover half of the area, making it the largest farm of its kind in Europe. The company behind the project plans to build five more aquaponics farms in Brussels by 2020, writes brusselnieuws.be.

The Belgian-German-Swiss conglomerate Building Integrated Services (BIG) will invest €2.5 million in the project, reports L'Echo. Last month, BIG signed a 36-year contract with FoodMet operator Abattoir SA. The urban farm will also receive funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

"The other half of the farm will be a classic open-air garden," investor Mathieu Bonin told brusselnieuws.be. "We want to grow both traditional vegetables and innovative ones, like microgreens or potatoes that grow in water."