On a bright June day in 2025, FreshMinistries handed the keys to Island Fresh to the University of the Virgin Islands. Six greenhouses, fully off the grid, growing fresh food and fish year round.
A farm on old sugar ground.
The land at Estate Bethlehem once held the Bethlehem Sugar Works factory. Where cane was once processed for export, FreshMinistries built six state-of-the-art aquaponics greenhouses that grow food for the islands instead.
The farm opened in 2021 and became one of the largest aquaponics operations in the Caribbean.
Built to run off the grid.
Aquaponics pairs fish farming with produce cultivation. The fish feed the plants, the plants clean the water, and the whole cycle runs without reliance on traditional electricity grids.
That independence matters on an island. Storms come, power fails, and the farm keeps growing.
Built to cultivate opportunity, education, and resilience.
Gifted to the islands.
On June 3, 2025, control of the facility passed to the University of the Virgin Islands. Governor Albert Bryan and UVI President Dr. Sofiya George spoke at the ceremony, years in the making.
It was a full-circle moment. UVI helped pioneer modern aquaponics and was one of FreshMinistries' earliest learning partners. Now the university owns and runs the farm its research helped make possible.
Island Fresh reads as completed work: proof the model holds in the Caribbean, and proof it can be handed off whole. See how the work connects around the world on the global work page.