News Sustainability Systems
UK-based Flo-Gro Fresh gets ready for commercial-size prawn RAS

After five years operating a small recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) R&D facility for growing prawns, Flo-Gro Fresh has secured a site planning permit for an industrial-scale RAS facility.

The planned prawn farm will be built in South Lincolnshire, a ceremonial county in northeast England known for its natural reserves. It will be the UK’s first industrial-scale RAS prawn farm with an initial production unit for 250 tons per annum,” a press release from the company said. “The site will be capable of growing to more than 2500 tons p.a. of fresh prawns, as demand builds.”

Flo-Gro hopes to begin construction in the first quarter of 2024 and conduct its first harvest by the middle or end of the first quarter of 2026.

The company was recently awarded £5 million (US$6.4 million) in a UK government grant from the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affair. The funds will go towards the first module of Flo-Gro’s plan. The first module includes a hatchery, processing facility, dispatch, water treatment, as well as solar and ground source heat pumps

Nearly all the prawn eaten in the UK is imported. Flo-Gro aims to sustainably grow prawns in the country using renewable energy sources and a closed-loop RAS.