An agriculture scientist turned urban farmer, teacher, and aquaponics entrepreneur in Phoenix, Arizona, Dr. George Brooks talks about aquaponics as a disruptive technology, and how we’re now at a tipping point in the "diffusion of innovation." Find out how aquaponics can and should be used as a disruptive technology to change the world! Listen in as Dr. George talks about how inspiration from his parents, a preacher and a scientist, led him to become a leading expert on fish farming for the University of Arizona, traveling widely throughout the state showing people how to grow fish. He also talks about participating in a program called The O’odham Oidak Demonstration Fish and Prawn Farm on teaching kids how to grow food in a juvenile correction facility in 2001. Listen to his opinions on the cost of aquaponics technology and how it should be cost-effective as well as how aquaculture and aquaponics are really the same, giving us a closer perspective on what aquaponics really means and how similar they are to wetland filtration systems. Find out how Mesa Community College got the grant for environmental stewardship from the EPA where they are partnering with the Roosevelt School District and RighTrac for growing healthy food and using aquaponic techniques as a foundational model for STEM education. Also check out the different kinds of systems at the college including NFT, media bed, and deep water culture systems. See how aquaponics is helping these students not only learn about growing food, science, math, technology, and engineering, but also the business aspect of aquaponics so they can literally go and create small businesses in the future. Learn why we need to find a simpler and less costly way to build aquaponics systems on a larger scale while still being able to produce an abundance of food to supply the demand, and how generating more public data is essential to bringing about aquaponics as a disruptive technology that will change our food marketplaces, water consumption, health, transform food deserts, and re-skill jobless people! Lots of awesome resources for you in this episode! Please visit http://nxthorizon.com for more info on Dr. George Brooks.

Check out Part 3 of this interview with OU812 Aquaponics' Carlos Villamar. Never a dull moment with Carlos as he simply has a knack for unique experimentation. We talk about fish and prawn breeding accidents, behaviors, and habitat needs, along with catfish motels, and black soldier fly hotels! He has practically documented everything and taken an enormous amount of pictures and videos that cover every single thing he's done with aquaponics in the last 2 years. Tomatoes, peppers, kale, squash, corn, beans, zucchini, corn, BSF larvae, worms, mushrooms, catfish, tilapia, and prawn are all part of this delicious and fascinating journey! Listen in as Carlos and I talk about breeding tilapia, pregnant corn, sensors like Seneye and Osmobot for greenhouse monitoring, $20 underwater cameras, and building portable passive solar Chinese greenhouses. Finally, we discuss the many benefits of growing BSF larva (some will surprise you!), how you can turn BSF larva into biodiesel, and tilapia mating patterns. Also learn about some patent issues and protecting yourself from large companies! Subscribe to Carlos' YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPcXGmO_1xthxQO3OXbL5Ug

Listen to Part 4 of my talk with Kieran Foran, co-founder of Fresh Farm Aquaponics in South Glastonbury, Connecticut, whose goal is to teach communities how to feed themselves. Kieran and I talk about expenses for greenhouse design, minimal viable steps to improve and grow better, budgeting and system limitations you need to consider, portable designs, and aquaponics systems as part of your income stream, agricultural zoning and other restrictions. 

Listen up as we discuss things like growing fish, turtles, ducks, and other creatures, how aquaponics existed thousands of years ago, as well as topics like wicking beds, expanded shale, biochar materials, manipulating oregano growth for culinary and medicinal purposes, essential oils, building mini-systems that expand from there, and future smart houses! 

For more info on Fresh Farm Aquaponics, check out http://freshfarmct.org  

This is Part 2 of Carlos Villamar's journey into backyard aquaponics, which he started 2 years ago. Stay tuned as we talk about Carlos' replication of the radio flow separator design plus cone bottoms, stilling wells, geyser pumps, mechanical filters, biological filters, swirl filters, and other awesome aquaponic components! He also shares about growing duckweed, rye grass, and omega-3 fatty acids. We talk about greenhouse design using Thermashields, triple-glazed polycarbonate, PVC, and recycled structures. Discover how Carlos dealt with some overfeeding issues (this you've got to listen to!) as well as RFF going anaerobic, how the duckweed turned out as an incredible polishing filter, and how he makes sure that the babies are not being eaten by the adult fish. Thanks to the mushrooms for the micro-filtration! This is a super fun conversation filled with fun experimentations, freshwater crawfish, mixed martial arts, and automatic fish feeders. Find out why he came up with the name OU812 Aquaponics, how his entire aquaponics ecosystem is evolving and finally, meet Buddy the Goldfish! You can find his albums at OU812 Aquaponics here: https://www.facebook.com/Ou812Aquaponics or here: https://www.facebook.com/IAMJackal/media_set?set=a.10151910874281832.698581831&type=3'

Part 3 of my talk with Kieran Foran, co-founder of Fresh Farm Aquaponics in South Glastonbury, Connecticut, whose goal is to teach communities how to feed themselves. Listen as we talk about solids removal, media bed as biofilter, creating a third income stream, and biochar aquaponics and inoculation. We also discuss the business side of aquaponics touching on finding the right business partners, collaborating in business together, how they sell to restaurants, creating contracts and determining deliverables, and moving to a more wholesale model. Discover the importance of joining a business incubation program like the reSET and finding resources you can use for your business. Kieran explains the concept behind minimal viable product (MVP) and identifying an MVP for your aquaponics system. We also talk about how critical customer discovery is as well as building a test system before stepping up your scale. Listen up for more about aquaponically growing niche foods, flowers, and medicinal crops, the challenges of growing edible fish and ornamental fish, and more! For more info on Fresh Farm Aquaponics, check out http://freshfarmct.org

In this Part 3 of the interview series, we talk about choosing the right kind of fish to save energy during winter, energy-efficient greenhouse design for summer and wintertime, what crop to design your system around, Asian greens for commercial growing, and optimal temperatures for bacteria and certain plants. Discover interesting things about rainbow trouts, river chubs, and more! Find out which fish are more susceptible to diseases based on their scales, taking special care when moving fish, creating current in your system, what kinds of food should you feed your fish to boost the omega-3's, and more on the fish food industry and supplemental feeds. We also discuss about general ratios for your system, metabolic rates, and food conversion rates. Adam describes how easy aquaponics is yet how much artistry, detail, and practice should be involved in producing maximized results! Other topics include legal issues on fish growing, different states' white list and black list, licenses and permits. Discover what challenges Adam encountered in his system, how he dealt with it, educating and training classes, writing business plans, and how they still continue to flow along with the current of the aquaponics movement!

Part 2 of my talk with Rob Torcellini of Bigelow Brook Farm. We talk about cut and come again perennials, strawberry towers, wicking trays for seeding, and the massive die-off that happened in Rob's greenhouse that we can learn from. Hear about the rocket mass heater failure, growing banana trees aquaponically, using solids from mineralization tanks for fruit tree fertility, grafting, and the biggest barrier to mainstreaming aquaponics. Listen as we also discuss "Aquasheisters," aquaponics for drought and water conservation, Food Safety Issues and Organic Certification, as well as building customer relationships in your local community.

Adam Cohen is the founder of Green Phoenix Farms, an aquaponics business in Dallas, TX that offers aquaponics trainings to the public, YouTube videos, custom systems design and installation, and support for local non-profits and schools using aquaponics as a tool for both income-generation and education. This is Part 2, where we talk about crops and system design. Adam discusses growing for variety rather than volume, and how root crops don't grow well in heavy media beds. We talk about native fish and how tilapia are not going to save the world. "As long as you adjust what you're doing to match your conditions, your fish will always be fine." Other topics: greenhouse design, rainbow trout, river chub, and wicking bed experimentation for root crops. How to decide what to grow in what kinds of systems: media, raft, NFT, and vertical. Strawberries!!!! Best crops to grow commercially--what the local market wants! We also talk about market research and developing relationships with local restaurants. Food processing and value-added require permits. Energy efficiency, dissolved oxygen, and aeration. Learn why Adam doesn't use bell siphons anymore!

Carlos Villamar started his backyard aquaponics system 2 years ago and has a lot to share about his journey! An electrical engineer and patent attorney by trade, he had never been a gardener in his life before aquaponics. Listen as we discuss geyser pumps, designing for redundancy, external bell siphons, black soldier fly larvae composters, and how he got his system up and running from idea to plants in less than 6 months. We talk about his choice to make his system modular, his mistakes with overstocking the system with fish before it had cycled, problems with algae and how he solved them, and even sensor apps to collect data like pH, ammonia, and water temperature to your phone. He also discusses the lessons learned about building a greenhouse AFTER building his system, and how he converted a carport into a Chinese solar-styled greenhouse using Thermashield and triple-paned polycarbonate. Find out what tool he used to determine where to put his greenhouse to maximize Southern exposure for the best sunlight year-round. Finally, listen about how he grew pink oyster mushrooms in his aquaponic system! This is part 1 of his journey into backyard aquaponics. You can find his albums at OU812 Aquaponics here: https://www.facebook.com/Ou812Aquaponics

or here: 

https://www.facebook.com/IAMJackal/media_set?set=a.10151910874281832.698581831&type=3'

A well-known pioneering aquaponics innovator, hobbyist, and Youtube contributer, Rob Torcellini is the founder of Bigelow Brook Farm. Listen as we discuss Rob's journey, trials, inventions, and experimentations: why he chose a geodesic dome for his greenhouse, or why a rocket mass heater, and topics including his modified bell siphon, greenhouse heating, and the different kinds of wood stoves he uses. We discuss his video series on YouTube, his experience with solar energy, and what the biggest barrier is from being a pioneering hobbyist to becoming a  commercial producer, such as licensing, planning your greenhouse systems, and running your numbers. He talks about why you should diversify your business, the benefits of Grow Grips and why Rob invented these and other innovations, and his use of expanded shale for media beds. We discuss why he chose to grow Koi fish, the winter nitrogen cycle, and what crops grow best in his systems, including various types of tomatoes, culinary herbs such as thyme, oregano, sage, and parsley, as well as vegetables like green beans, celery and cucumbers. Discover which plant grows surprisingly well in an aquaponic system! Understand Rob's motto: "Slow and steady." Finally, learn what kind of beneficial bacteria he uses to deal with caterpillars, why he chose to grow June-bearing strawberries instead of ever-bearing strawberries... and which type of system is most ideal for growing strawberries! This is part 1 of a series with Rob. Keep your ears flexed for more! Check out his YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/web4deb/videos

Part 2 of my talk with Kieran Foran, co-founder of Fresh Farm Aquaponics in South Glastonbury, Connecticut, whose goal is to teach communities how to feed themselves. Listen as we talk about the customer discovery process, vertical farming and hybrid systems, and finding specialty crops that make you stand out as a small producer in your local marketplace! We also talk about how to train crops growing out of your system onto the ground or on trellises like squash or beans, and what kinds of culinary herbs are most demanded by chefs in their local market research. We also discuss jacuzzi heaters, plumbing, and the quality of aquaponics produce. Bonus: Listen to discover which epoxy works for wood, plastic, and PVC!!! For more info on Fresh Farm Aquaponics, check out http://freshfarmct.org 

Kieran Foran is the co-founder of Fresh Farm Aquaponics in South Glastonbury, Connecticut, whose goal is to teach communities how to feed themselves. Although both Kieran and Spencer had zero experience in farming or business 5 years ago, as fresh college graduates, they were inspired to make some personal life changes that then transformed into a successful aquaponics business. Listen as we discuss the lean startup approach to business, the "customer discovery" process, minimal viable products, and more! We talk about how to get into farmer's markets, what questions to ask your local market if you're getting into business to sell your aquaponics produce, state laws and zoning to research in your area, and designing systems for school curricula! Kieran is a fantastic resource, and this is just part ONE of a four-part series with him! For more info on Fresh Farm Aquaponics, check out http://freshfarmct.org