Amber, the owner of Ísponica, a newly-established vertical farm in Hólar, Iceland introduces herself. "I‘m originally from the Savannah, Georgia area. I‘ve been living here in Iceland since 2018, which is when I started my MSc at Hólar University, where I studied lumpfish."
It‘s always been a dream of Amber to become an aquaponic farmer. She really knew after finishing her MSc in June of this year, when she decided that she wanted to do this for a living. So, the process began of creating Ísponica.
The small village of Hólar holds a special place in Ambers's heart and she directly knew that this would be the perfect place to found the farm. One building, in particular, caught Amber's attention: an old cow barn that has mostly been used for storage for at least the last 10 years or so.
The building has also held many other things over the years – animals, a public aquarium, an apartment, and is currently home to our local pub and brewery. The original cow barn was built in 1914. Historical reports say it was considered the best cow house in northern Iceland when it was built. In 1948 the barn was renovated and expanded. Ísponica is located in this newer addition.
The room where Ísponica is being set up used to be the public aquarium, which worked out perfectly as the old aquariums, pipework, and electrical were still in place. It was possible to re-purpose a lot of the aquarium setups and metal stands to use for plant grow racks, which is a big help to a small startup like this one.
Read the complete article at Aquaponics Association