THIS INTERIOR floorplan of the Blairsburg facility shows an additional 240 tanks VeroBlue said it needs for a growing demand of fish. VeroBlue said it will continue to partner with grower-cooperators on farms with facilities suitable for aquaculture production.

WEBSTER CITY (VBF) – VeroBlue Farms Inc. announced Oct. 15 the acquisition of a 270,000-square-foot warehouse building for the expansion of the company’s Iowa’s First, land-based aquaculture operation in Webster City.

Iowa’s First and VBF have been growing the barramundi, or Australian sea bass, in the Opposing Flow Aquaculture tank system for the past three years.

The operation with the OFA system has resulted in improved feed conversion ratios and growth rates for fish cultured in these tank systems.

VBF’s strain of Barramundi fry are obtained from Mainstream Aquaculture in Australia, the world leader in selective breeding of premium Barramundi.

As a component of the VBF expansion, the company secured exclusive rights to Mainstream’s strain of Barramundi in North America.

-Contributed graphics THIS ARTIST’S CONCEPTION shows how VeroBlue Farms’s aquaculture expansion will appear. The site will be at 2567 190th St., Blairsburg.

“With the addition of this building, it will be our third production facility with 240 OFA recirculating tank systems that will produce an annual harvest of more than 5 million pounds to VBF’s existing operations,” said Leslie Wulf, chief executive officer of VeroBlue Farms. “Additionally, in order to support our expansion, we have already increased our fingerling operation to a total of 80 tanks with plans of adding 300 additional tanks to accommodate growing demand.

“We will continue to expand our production capability through the use of local production partners as designated growers.”

VBF has secured the global distribution rights to the patented OFA recirculating tank system.

The patented tank technology uses a forced-air system of blowers instead of pumps, which creates an opposing flow of water and removes solids by filtering each gallon every 45 minutes.

The RAS system oxygenates the water without the need to infuse liquid or industrially generated oxygen, while efficiently stripping out CO2 and ammonia.

In the OFA system, each tank holds 10,000 gallons of water, and six tanks share the same water filtration system that operates in its own biosecure environment.