👋 Kane and Victoria here.
As Atlas Aquaculture’s co-founders, we’re always thinking about how to grow bigger, faster, better. But the past year has made us realise that it’s equally important to slow down and reflect. Because that’s how we learn from our successes and failures, and the only way to grow meaningfully.
So as we are about to enter the new year, we’re looking back on the pivotal moments of our journey with our farm, our team and each other. And we want to share these moments with you.
2020 to 2021: Bold beginnings
We were embarking on something unheard of in Singapore - building a land-based, sustainable fish farm. After lots of self-doubt and countless “what if”s, we decided to just go for it. So we did.
And as we stepped forward, we and everyone around the world were hit with the biggest blow - the Covid-19 pandemic. Construction on our farm slowed down, hiring workers became such a challenge and we had to literally build our farm with our own hands.
But at the same time, we realised the importance of what we were doing. When global imports to Singapore gets affected, it is local farms like us that help safeguard our country’s food supply. This made us even more committed to our mission. So we trudged on.
2022: Tribulation and transformation
As we focused our energies on building our farm, we received devastating news from our doctor - Victoria was diagnosed with cervical cancer. It was, needless to say, a traumatising time for our family. Thankfully, her chemotherapy sessions were successful and she is currently in remission.
Looking back, everything happened so quickly. We went from a period of illness to celebrating new life while taking care of everything at home and at the farm. We were happy but exhausted - physically, emotionally, mentally.
As they say, something’s gotta give. Sure enough, we realised we made a big mistake at work.
Amidst the whirlwind of events, we hired someone without doing our due diligence. Without going into details, this person let us down by embezzling money from the farm, and even continued to use our farm licence to import goods. We’ve handed the case to the police.
We also hired a farm operations manager who didn’t believe in our cutting-edge RAS system, and refused to let it do its work. That caused much chaos in the farm and it took us a lot of time to let things settle back down.
While we were disappointed with ourselves for bringing these people into our team, we also learnt a good lesson - we need to work with people who are aligned with our goals.
2023: Resilience and renewal
Stepping into 2023, we were determined to not let anything bring us down. The in-principle extension of our lease for three years marks a significant milestone, allowing us to remain committed to our vision of being a zero-waste farm. And so we took a leap towards it - we began phase one of our solar panel project by installing panels on our roofs.
We also developed our hatchery, allowing us to grow our own brood stock. This gives us the ability to control the quality of our fingerlings without relying on suppliers.
And the biggest boost of confidence came when we received Singapore’s 2-star Good Agricultural Practice certified badge. The badge is akin to telling the world that we meet international standards in producing high-quality seafood. This has reaffirmed that all our hard work has been worth it and gave us the motivation to keep going.
2024: Embracing new opportunities
We’re stepping into the new year with hope, excitement and anticipation for what’s to come. Our team is gearing up for a professional collaboration with a well-respected titan in our industry. Together, we look forward to setting new standards of excellence and innovation in the aquaculture world.
And another exciting piece of news - we’re stepping into the world of retail and merchandise. It may not look like much, but the solid waste harvested from our waste recovery system is packed full of energy from uneaten fish feed and excrement. So we’re transforming this waste into positive energy for plants! Stay tuned for our announcement.
We’re also moving into phase two of our solar panel project, underscoring our dedication to harnessing renewable energy.
To round it off, we’re embarking on a new project close to our hearts - making fishballs! Creating bouncy fishballs with sustainable fish has always been one of Victoria’s goals, so we can’t wait to get started on this. We’re still in R&D phase, but we are sure that our final product will be freshly made in Singapore, using fish fed with GMO-, chemical- and preservative-free feed.
Every twist and turn in our journey thus far has made us more resilient, discerning, and forward-thinking. We don’t know what challenges will come for us next year, but we know that we will continue towards our mission - to feed our fellow Singaporeans with delicious, sustainable, high-quality seafood.
Wishing everyone a wonderful new year,
Kane & Victoria