Prefeasibility Analysis for an Aquaponics Facility near Toronto, CA

Situation: A Canadian group of entrepreneurs wanted a market study to examine the viability of a sustainable and organic food-producing facility on the outskirts of Toronto, Ontario. Their concerns ranged from the choice of produce to marketing strategies, including but not limited to the state of the local competition.

What We Did: We examined the viability of hydroponics and aquaponics facilities in the context of both horizontal and vertical farming. Given the current state of the market, we needed to deduce not only the type of products (greens and fishes) but a useful radius within which the products could be supplied, along with suitable marketing channels. Due to the medium to large-scale operations the investors wanted to install, we also reviewed local competition and provided analogs of successful large-scale operations.

Outcome: Our final recommendations were to install an aquaponics facility with provisions for mostly vertical farming. We found that organic produce was very popular in the local market, but few competing hydroponics or aquaponics facilities with comparable scale. This established the project’s viability from an ROI standpoint with an appropriate capital budget.