Our Genealogy

Future Foods Farms was created by Award-Winning Chef, Food Writer, Organic Advocate, and Urban Garden innovator Adam Navidi, a pioneer of the sustainable restaurant community. The National Restaurant Association broke the story back in early 2010, “Chef Adam Navidi is the first innovative chef to use the sustainable growing method known as ‘aquaponics’ in his restaurant and catering company worldwide, and is a leader in the sustainable movement”.

At a young age Chef Adam discovered that growing foods organically and without soil was as simple as placing a tooth-picked seed into a cup of water. Adam’s father believed that anything amazing he ate was worth planting and watering daily. With deep roots planted by his father’s love for everything organic and home grown, an uncle who farmed avocados in Escondido; when he wasn’t doing aquaculture research for the state of California, Chef Adam discovered his green thumb had not fallen far from the family tree. By age 15, Adam was growing plants and trees from seeds. Looking to grow his new plant business through the winter months Adam started experimenting with hydroponic systems and indoor gardening. In 1998 when Adam visited Napa Valley and toured the Culinary Institute of America’s garden with Jean Louis Palladin, his interest in growing foods was solidified. It was during this visit that an important life message was planted in his brain. Chef Palladin insisted that a great chef must know where his food comes from, and build a relationship with the farmers and foragers who could procure the best possible ingredients. Those words sparked a fire within, so while other chefs were practicing molecular gastronomy focusing on how to take a perfectly good tomato, and chemically morph it to look like something else, Chef Adam focused on the science behind how to grow the perfect, most nutritious organic tomato possible.

Tired of working long hours in the kitchen and spending his free time picking weeds, watering and sorting the beneficial bugs from the pest; Chef Adam developed a hydroponic system tinkering with synthetic nutrients, to produce the best possible yield. During a night of online research Chef Adam discovered a couple of guys back east that were utilizing an aquaponic system that made perfect sense. He quickly started calling and talking with everyone about the science and equipment needed. With a system so new, everyone had something different to say and there was no hard evidence that growing food aquaponically really worked. Adam contacted the few scientists he could find that seemed to know what they were talking about and that had full systems up and running, to see if they were interested in working on his new restaurant. One of them returned his call. Bevan, from Aquaplanet, wanted to be involved, and he told Chef Adam, “You just have to put a system together and try it out. It’s a learning process that takes time!”

So, with a small fish aquarium and an old salad bar, Adam built his first aquaponic system in 2009. Ideas in hand and a restaurant location planned in Fountain Valley, he took his proposal to the city to get permits in early 2010. They shot him down saying, “We would have to create a special zoning law/code for doing agriculture in a commercially zoned center and at this time we’re not interested.” Disheartened, but not defeated, he took his plan to another city that also refused. Chef Adam continued to do his homework and talk with scientists from across the US and Canada. Finally he discovered a couple in San Diego developing an aquaponic business willing to help with the construction of Adam’s system. Eden Aquaponics had a real system in the works, with food you could taste, still in the learning process but honest and sincere enough to make several trips to his planned restaurants to help with the designs. They started challenging each other to compare Brix (sugar) levels in their crops and a friendship was planted!

Now with three science projects growing in his backyard, out $40,000 from his restaurant plans and permits, and with no city in the county wanting to approve a space where he could both grow and cook, Chef Adam was lucky enough to trip over a small nursery in Brea, California. The owners shared Adam’s passion for organic food and had two abandoned hoop houses on their property. They worked out a deal and Future Foods Farms was planted.

Mission

It is our mission to create a sustainable farm concept that will change both agriculture and the restaurant industry forever and provide our customers with the ultimate food experience.

The creeds we live by are: The Future is now. Be good humans. Sustaining the planet one plate at a time. Foods for Tomorrow.

We are and will continue to be leaders not only in our profession, but in our community, serving and sustaining our community.

We will serve quality cuisine for the quality of life and leave a sustainable experience with sustainable foods.

We are proud to support sustainable agriculture and sustainable organizations as well as local farms and businesses.

Some experts believe Jesus fed the multitude with Saint Peter’s (Tilapia) fish. We will be “fishers of men” and help nourish and strengthen our community by planting seeds of change, creating economic development, sharing our knowledge with all student levels, as well as supporting local charitable organizations.

Organic Farming

Future Foods Farms was built from reclaimed items found in Chef Adams kitchen, the nursery and where ever else they could be found. Four different grow systems made out of recycled items have been built in hoop houses 2-3’ above leased oil land that cannot be used for conventional farming due to soil content.

The Future Foods Farms system does not rely on heavy machinery to turn the soil and burn fossil fuels. It is a state-of-the-art permaculturely designed greenhouse which uses no fuel to heat or cool. Our non-recirculating greenhouses support California’s water conservation using less than one gallon of water to produce one head of lettuce in 28-30 days. (Conversely, conventional (soil grown) farming can use from 10 -15 gallons of water to grow one head of lettuce taking 38-45 days and recirculating hydroponic systems can use 4-5 gallons of water per head of lettuce.)

Our 20,000 square-feet recirculating aquaponic greenhouse uses 70 watts of power as a result of one pump filling eight beds independently (which has never been done in aquaponics, to our knowledge). From our specialized settling tank and custom-designed fill pump float housing, to the multiple bed gravity flow return system that requires no energy to operate, Future Foods Farms is the cutting edge science to sustainably grown produce.

Team

Our team is 50% chefs, cooks, managers and gardeners and 50% organic Tilapia fish. We grow and provide nothing but fresh, natural, and environmentally friendly organic produce and organically grown hormone-free fish. We believe the future is now, and that everything in life will flow better when everyone and everything is connected on the farm and on earth. Our service team has a deep appreciation for our menu items because they’ve grown them by hand and understand the work it takes to nurture these products to fruition. It is our goal to compile data for the future farmers and sustainable restaurants of tomorrow. We hope to lead the largest Industry in America (hospitality) toward a better future for generations to come while changing the face of agriculture in America.

We have several amazing scientists who consult at our aquaponic garden along with several college professors and interns who maintain and study the garden on a daily basis. Aquaponics is still in its infancy and on the threshold of going public and creating huge buzz. Every one of our team members understands their part of our mission and the work involved makes them pioneers in the green industry. They are also making our project a success and sharing the wealth of information with others. Future Foods Farms offers our county huge economic development opportunity and educational curriculum for all levels. Biology, chemistry, aquaculture, agriculture, the culinary industry, the fishing Industry; many students as well as consumers can benefit from the lessons learned at Future Foods Farms. We’re thankful for the support from governors, senators, congressional representative, mayors, city planners, land owners, the USDA as well as many green organizations. Every day Chef Adam fields phone inquiries from different scientists, the media and others interested in aquaponics and looking to better comprehend and share the exciting possibilities.

Grow System

Fresh, Organic, Sustainable, and Living are the rules that define our farm grown products. Our trademarked Living Salad, Greens, Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs are grown from organic seeds here on our farm. Most of our produce is sent to market with roots attached and still living, allowing for a fresher product and a longer shelf life.

We procure the finest organic medium made from fallen tree bark for our seedling beds, and allow the beneficial bacteria within to feed our healthy roots. For our bio-filtering grow beds, we’ve chosen to use a local, natural lightweight Shale for water filtration (instead of inorganic mined clay hydro ton from other parts of the world). Future Foods Farms Patent Pending Non-Recirculating Styro-Grow boxes were invented to recycle insulated shipping/packing containers normally discarded into landfills or oceans.

The plastic stands within our hoop houses were made from old nursery pots destined for the dump and our patent pending and trademarked “Living Salad Bars” repurpose old salad bars that other catering companies have no use for. Our planting cones are made from old plastic nursery pots!

Several types of water lettuce and duckweed provide a nutritious meal to our fin- friendly team of approximately 1,000, as well as worms from our vermi-composting bins to provide a natural source of protein. No insecticides, pesticides, or chemically produced sprays are used at the farm. We believe in the theory that if you have healthy genetics in a healthy plant, you won’t have problems with pests, bugs or disease. We also feed the birds and the ground squirrels at the farm with bird food so they won’t freeload on our produce