When a new farm opens in the Dominican Republic next year, it will grow coral, not vegetables. Using recently developed techniques, a startup plans to grow pieces of coral as much as 50 times faster than it can grow in the ocean—and then use it to help rebuild coral reefs.

The startup, Coral Vita, will use a method called “micro-fragmenting” that splits coral into tiny pieces, spurring it to grow to repair itself. By placing the pieces of coral near one another, they can merge together, quickly forming a larger section.

“It basically translates into growing coral in months, not decades,” says Sam Teicher, who co-founded the company with fellow Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies graduate Gator Halpern. David Vaughan, a researcher who previously developed the technique at the Mote Marine Laboratory, serves as an advisor for the new company.

[Photo: via Coral Vita]

It’s an attempt to help stem the rapid death of reefs around the world, driven by problems such as warming water, acidification, and overfishing of species that benefit the coral. 93% of the Great Barrier Reef is damaged. The longest mass bleaching event on record has now reached reefs in at least 38 countries. By midcentury, an estimated 75% of coral reefs will be gone.

Researchers and nonprofits have tried coral farming in the past, but in the ocean, at a smaller scale. Ocean coral farms work with a limited number of species, and can’t easily cover the massive area of reefs that need help.

[Photo: Hollie Putnam]

“To scale the current ocean-based farming model to restore all the Dominican Republic’s reefs, you would need to set up nurseries for literally hundreds of miles of coastline,” says Gator Halpern.

With a land-based coral farm, it’s possible to grow enough coral to supply an entire country. It’s also possible to control conditions to help breed coral that are better adapted for changing oceans.