Aquatic Lemna Offers New Method for Nutrient Recycling on Farms
Fyto, an agriculture startup founded by Jason Prapas, has introduced a robotic farming system that uses dairy farm wastewater to grow Lemna, a protein-rich aquatic plant.
Known commonly as duckweed, Lemna is efficient in absorbing nitrogen and doubles in size every two days, making it ideal for high-volume crop production.
Fyto’s system grows Lemna in shallow pools with minimal land use. The pools are equipped with large agricultural robots that track plant health, assess color, growth rates, and suggest actions to optimize yield. The harvested Lemna serves as both livestock feed and fertilizer.
“We developed from scratch a robotic system that takes the guesswork out of farming this crop,” said Prapas.
Fyto began with backyard experiments and has now built systems as wide as 160 feet. The system addresses the challenge of nitrogen waste on farms, particularly from dairy operations, turning it into a useful input.
Lemna has shown potential to outperform soy in protein yield per acre. Fyto has received approval to market Lemna-based fertilizer and is awaiting clearance in California for its use in feed. Trials are already showing promising results.
The startup’s team includes Valerie Peng, a former MIT student who now leads engineering efforts at Fyto. Their goal is to make the system scalable and easy to adopt by farmers across different sectors.
Prapas notes that this solution isn’t limited to dairy farms. “Think of us like a polishing step you could put on the end of any system that has an organic waste stream,” he explained.
Fyto aims to expand its reach globally, making farming more efficient and environmentally friendly by reusing what is typically discarded as waste.