What You Need To Know About Coral Farming

We spend our time providing farmers with the best insurance solutions possible, here at Crop Insurance Solutions. Along the way, we enjoy sharing information on the industry and tips for nurturing your own crops. This week we’re talking about a branch of farming we’re really excited to see grow, and ways this might revolutionize the way we farm.

How does coral farming work?

Until now, most coral farms have been constructed under water. Resembling the way you line your crops in a field, underwater coral farms are built in rows using rope and strategically placed coral reef fragments. After months of care, meticulous placement of sunlight and flow of water, the fragments reach maturation and are transported to a dying coral reef. These healthy fragments latch on to the dying reef, and either overpower or help protect the dying one. With dying reefs, fishermen must travel all around their island to find a place for even sparing amounts of fish. By healing our coral reefs, they are able to place their nets in nearby and find success.

The Coral Vita way

These ocean-based nurseries are fine, but are only sustainable for small-scale projects and take months or even years to mature. They are typically built to sustain short-term needs, and only for a few coral reefs. A company called Coral Vita is set out to change these old school coral farming ways, and revolutionize the way we farm sensitive aquatic lifeforms on land. Nearly 75% of the earth’s coral reefs will be dead by 2015, and Coral Vita has recognized that small-scale coral farming just won’t cut it anymore with recent spikes in climate change, overpopulation, and overfishing causing further destruction every day.

The science behind the farming

Coral Vita uses a method called micro fragmenting to take microscopic fragments from reefs. With these microscopic fragments, they then use their labs to grow a variety of reefs nearly fifty times faster than they would grow in an ocean-based nursery. Under the water, only specific reefs can be grown, whereas in these on-land labs, farmers are able to grow and nurture a much wider range of reefs. This process “basically translates into growing coral in months, not decades” with the option of growing even the most exotic reefs.

In addition to micro fragmenting, the company uses a method called assisted evolution to protect the coral reefs from aspects they’ll face in the ocean by exposing them to the conditions in controlled portions. By the time the reefs are released to their parent reefs, they’ll be naturally more tolerant of warming temperatures, acidification, or other harmful elements. Basically, the farmers are “vaccinating” the reefs in order to help pass along the defensive properties to the parent reefs.

Where will they go next?

Currently in the Dominican Republic, Coral Vita has the most updated farming technology to succeed in their mission of reversing the destruction and death of our coral reefs. Years from now, the startup hopes to open locations in other countries who are trying to prevent the destruction of coral reefs and continually work faster and more efficiently to heal the oceans.

Using science in farming

Coral Vita uses plenty of new science and technology in their farming, and are constantly looking for ways to produce more and healthier reefs. We are inspired by their dedication to their craft, and are excited to see how their methods of assisted evolution and micro fragmentation might translate in to other types of farming. In the meantime, if you’re ready to protect your own crops, call us today and we’ll get you started with the crop insurance solutions that are right for your needs.