Central Illinois farm uses fish and water to grow produce

WHITE HEATH, Ill. (WCIA) — Koss Family Farms has been supplying Central Illinois with lettuce and other greens for almost half a decade.

Steve Koss said one thing that makes his farm different is that he’s always had his eye on ways to produce efficient farming methods for his family’s corn and soybeans.

“We’re always doing something, you know, either building terraces or water conservation, tiling. You know, we could do about anything,” Koss said.

And then Koss decided to start something far more self-sustaining – a lettuce farm.

“I kept looking at this as part of what I liked,” Koss said. “I mean, it just seemed like the next natural step.”

Monrita Bernard has worked on the lettuce farm for a couple of years.

She said the aquaponics system used to grow the many varieties of lettuce introduced her to a new style of farming.

“I just walking through the doors, I had no idea what to even expect and coming in and just learning from Steve and hearing all about what it entails, to grow the lettuce. And I’ve just learned so much,” Bernard said.

The farm uses another delectable food to feed nutrients to the lettuce.

Tilapia fish get fed a special mix that eventually gets filtered by microbes and sent to the lettuce through the water, and that water cycles through the entire farm.

Koss is sharing his love for self-sustaining systems with students, too

“You get into the biology, the chemistry, the horticulture side of it,” he said. “So, we enjoyed doing tours and helping the kids understand where the food comes from and what it takes to grow it.”

Koss said aquaponic lettuce is tastier and cleaner than your standard grocer’s greens.

Since joining the Koss family farm Bernard can’t even look at lettuce the same way when she’s in the produce aisle.

“Nothing comparable to what we have,” Bernard said. “Ours is so just fresh in the colors and the texture, I would imagine. I mean, it’s so much better.”

The family sold their first head of lettuce a few months before the start of the pandemic.

They said customers at a Monticello farmer’s market helped them through that period to get where they are today. What started as a hobby has become a supplier of lettuce to farmer’s markets, grocery stores and even U of I dorms.

“It’s just pleasure,” Koss said. “I mean, I enjoy working with the plants and the fish. And, the girls do, you know, also. So, yeah, it’s about the same. The stress levels aren’t quite as high in here as they are out there.”

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