AquaBounty broke ground on construction of its first Atlantic salmon farm in Pioneer, Ohio last week. This will be AquaBounty’s first 10,000 metric ton farm which will be in northwestern part of the state. AquaBounty is a land based salmon producer and their focus is on achieving sustainability in aquaculture. Moreover, the new facility will also bring more than 100 jobs to the area.

$290 million investment

Farm producer, AquaBounty, CRB, and several partners celebrated the groundbreaking event last Wednesday. The estimated cost of the project is $290 million to $320 million. In addition, the company has reserved another $30 million for potential contingencies. Although, the farm company has not announced any completion date for the new farm, yet they plan to start the farming process by the end of next year. The new farm will be company’s largest plant and will approximately comprise of 479,000 square feet. “We are pleased to have officially begun building our next-generation, highly productive facility in Pioneer, Ohio, which will serve as a model for the aquaculture industry and our continued expansion.” Sylvia Wulf, Chief Executive Officer of AquaBounty said in a statement.

CRB is responsible for designing and constructing the new facility for AquaBounty. CRB is an international leader in sustainable engineering, architecture, construction, and consulting solutions to the food and beverage and life sciences industry. “AquaBounty’s facility demonstrates the bold vision necessary to defeating food insecurity on a global scale. We are extremely humbled and grateful that our integrated ONEsolution approach is playing a key role in uniting that vision with execution methods designed to deliver projects on schedule, on budget and with high quality.” Ryan Schroeder, President of CRB expressed his view about the project and its potential.

Employment opportunities

Moreover, the project is likely to bring multiple job opportunities in the Northwestern part of Ohio. According to estimate, the salmon farm is likely to bring more than 100 new job opportunities in the community. “Ohio will benefit from the introduction of a new industry with new jobs and new opportunities in Northwest Ohio.” Sylvia Wulf commented on employment prospects of the project. JobsOhio have welcomed the building of new farm. “AquaBounty will establish its largest and most advanced facility here in Ohio. The farm will create more than 110 new jobs while attracting the next generation of food production technology to Williams County.” JP Nauseef, president and CEO of JobsOhio said in his statement.

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