The AgrI-fiSh project proposes the adoption of an innovative farming system, which directly links agriculture with aquaculture productions through circular economy principles, to respond to the environmental and socio-economic challenges face to climate change in the Mediterranean region.
The project focuses on the innovative use of the waste productions of the agriculture sectors as a resource for the aquaculture. The wastes analyzed within the project will derive form organic and climate-smart agriculture and will be used for the testing of innovative feeds for freshwater aquaculture in Algeria, Italy and Spain.
The nutraceutical potential of defined wastes, such as grape seeds and pomace, cereals and legumes, will be assessed together with the potential in the use of natural antimicrobial substances to be added to the feed. To date wastes produced by wine processing are currently only used for livestock feed, and have demonstrated a high quality potential due to a significant presence in lipid, protein, carbohydrate, and other nutraceutical biocompounds. The project will upscale the valorization of such agricultural wastes to the creation of sustainable feeds for aquaculture. In addition to the wastes the feeds will be composed also by percentage of medicinal plants and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) form goat whey discards, with the scope to reduce the use of antibiotics for disease control in aquaculture and strength the immune system of fish. Nutraceutical potential of such wastes, in combination with other biocomponents (e.g. whey, cereals, medical herbs), will foster animal and human health with consequent benefits for the environment and the society. In fact, the nutritional potential of the wastes is significant and such concentration of substances have shown to be useful for human health also with indirect consumption.

The AgrI-fiSh project will contribute to the transition to a more resilient agrosystem through an innovative and sustainable farming system, which promotes an efficient use of biological and natural resources with an increase in the productivity, with consequent benefits for the local economies. At the environmental level, the project is conceived to be resilient by preventing form pollutant discards; limiting the use of animal feeds and promoting instead vegetal components for aquaculture feeds; limiting the costs of agricultural discards; and promoting sustainable agriculture.