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The Anse Caraïbes company is now working with Farm 4 you, a St. Martin farm that produces salads using aquaponics. The canteen's beneficiaries will now be able to enjoy a fresh, local product.
Ludovic Questel of Anse Caraïbes is full of praise for his salad. The canteen manager praises its long green leaves, its freshness and its roots, which enable it to be kept longer. In the canteen fridge in Gustavia, Ludovic Questel compares the salads he receives from the USA with those he received this morning from Saint-Martin. The American ones are small, tightly packed in plastic, while those from the neighboring island have bright green leaves that overflow from the tub. This green lettuce was picked that very morning a few miles away, at the Farm 4 you aquaponics farm in Saint-Martin. Ludovic Questel was delighted to receive his first shipment from this new producer.
Ludovic Questel went to Saint-Martin to visit the farm and find out how it works.
An aquaponics system
A few weeks ago, the Saint-Martin-based company came to meet them and offer their four varieties of lettuce and aromatic herbs. A first test took place in December, and then Ludovic Questel came to Saint-Martin to visit the farm. "It's huge and there's lettuce everywhere," enthuses the Anse Caraïbes manager. Two greenhouses house the four varieties of lettuce grown using an aquaponics system. This method combines the cultivation of plants and fish in the same system. Large tanks of water house the fish, and their waste is used as a source of nutrients for the plants. Once the water has been purified by the plants, it is returned to the fish, and the cycle is infinite.
The farm operates using an aquaponics system.
After an initial conclusive test, the company running the canteen decided to sign up with the farm to cook with their products as regularly as possible. It was an obvious choice for Ludovic Questel: "Instead of buying products from the other side of the world, we can have quality local produce for the children and elderly people who benefit from our dishes. "Whenever possible, the canteen tries to cook with regional produce. Cucumbers, tomatoes, christophines and yoghurts come from Guadeloupe, while bananas are imported from the Dominican Republic.
Production on demand
For this first order, 20 pieces of salad were delivered to the canteen. "It can meet all our needs," assures the manager. The farm produces according to the demand it receives, and a weekly delivery is scheduled for the canteen in Saint-Barth, which is, for the moment, their first customer on the island. Thanks to this regular exchange, the canteen avoids long-term storage and can therefore offer an "extremely fresh" product. Always in the interests of their main customers: the island's children
The canteen received its first delivery of salad on Friday February 7.
