This is Part 2 of the interview with Dr. Nate Storey of Bright Agrotech, makers of the ZipGrow Towers. In this episode, Nate talks about the big impediments to newbie vertical farmers and why Upstart Farmers was conceived. He also talks about the UpStart University, a learning-based community that offers video courses to self-driven students as well as the Jumpstart Farmers Program, which offers entry-level mentorship. Nate briefly discusses the different courses they offer at the UpStart University including organic certification, lighting courses, business planning, and marketing.
Listen in to know more about farm planning & financing, grants, Kiva loans, and how much would you exactly need to get started. Learn about the importance of understanding your market and how to go through the planning process. Nate explains why ZipGrow towers are an answer to issues concerning live sales, robust farming, and light conservation. Check out why they also reduce smog in cities!
Dr. Nate further emphasizes the importance of understanding the money value of sunlight, addressing some light limitations, understanding the value of indoor growing based on local markets, and how LEDs can be cost-effective over time. Lastly, we talk about the role of live sales in food distribution and waste reduction, and why live sales totally rock!
Adam Brock is the co-founder of GrowHaus, a unique nonprofit based in Denver, Colorado. GrowHaus is a half-acre space encompassing different aspects of the food system under one roof including food production, food distribution, and food education, with a focus on revitalizing their local community through rebuilding food sovereignty.
Tune in to this episode as Adam takes us through the four-year process of building this unique community by connecting with the neighborhood as well as the different classes they have developed over time-- including Seed to Seed summer program for teens, micro business training, service learning, and even permaculture classes to the general public.
Adam walks us through the GrowHaus business model - its structure, the mission, and the funding of nonprofits. He gives us a brighter perspective on social entrepreneurship that combines non-profits & for-profits, in a non-traditional "regenerative" legal structure. Adam also describes the actual systems at the GrowHaus including a hydroponics farm, an aquaponics farm based on the UVI model of deep water culture system (DWC, or raft), and some of the crops they're growing, including a mini food forest with perennials and fruit trees.
Learn more about topics including the permaculture paradigm as key to their success, GrowHaus' community demographics, getting help from "cultural translators," and the permaculture application into their systems - the "Growasis," a tropical food forest, and a mushroom facility. Other things mentioned are the Permaculture Design Magazine, fertigation, and intersecting aquaponics with the food justice and permaculture movements as a powerful tool for food sovereignty.
A highly viable aquaponic setting right in the middle of the most polluted zip code in the entire state of Colorado - How has GrowHaus been able to successfully do this? Let's find out!
This is part 2 of the interview with Rebecca Nelson, co-founder of Nelson and Pade based in Wisconsin.
Nelson and Pade is currently working with the University of Wisconsin at the Aquaponics Innovation Center funded through an economic development grant to build a center for research. Along with Dr. Chris Hartleb of the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point (UWSP), they have developed a university level aquaponics course which is now running on its fifth year.
Listen in as Rebecca shares more about growing tilapia and walleye fish in their commercial systems as well as leafy crops, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, beets, cucumbers, and more! They grow tropical fruit trees too like bananas, limes, pomegranates, papaya.
Discover the challenges in designing aquaponic systems and growing an aquaponic business - combating misinformation and building your business upon validated research. Rebecca also shares some tips for successful commercial aquaponic farming including good business planning and understanding controlled environment agriculture as well as avenues you can take to get funding. Other topics include USDA regulation, Certified Naturally Grown, dealing with government permits, laws, and regulations, and things that curtail aquaponics as a viable business option.
Today's guest is Jennifer Boren of Noga Farms in Gordonville, Texas. A nurse by profession, she decided to be a stay-at-home mom to take care of her four beautiful children. Initially building their system from some recycled oil-filled equipment, she shares with us what they've done wrong with their first aquaponics system and how they fixed the issues along the way.
Listen in as Jennifer talks more about gravity-fed systems, ebb and flow vs. constant flood, using bell siphons vs. standpipes, as well as what's growing in their raft system and pea gravel media system. Discover how Nova Farms is growing peppers, strawberries, micro-greens, red lettuce, tomatoes, beans, eggplants, and edible flowers. Currently, they run an outdoor media system connected to the barn.
She also delves into topics like heat issues, lighting system, oxygen requirement, understanding water hardness or softness, off-gassing chlorine from water, cycling water; and salts and sodas for hardening the water. We also touch on filtration system (bio-bead filter, bird nets, and Matala filters) as well as valves for emergency measures and leakage issues. Lastly, learn about their business model primarily on selling tilapia for pond management.
Listen to this highly informative episode with Rebecca Nelson, co-founder and co-owner of Nelson and Pade in Montello, Wisconsin.
Their history in aquaponics goes back to the mid 1980s, beginning with commercial hydroponic production before transitioning to aquaponics in the early 90's upon learning about aquaponics from the University of Virgin Islands led by Dr. Rakocy. Rebecca partnered with John Pade and they've been building their business together for over 30 years now, with John's focus on the engineering side of things while Rebecca's expertise is in the science and biology.
In this episode, Rebecca shares her viewpoints on hydroponics vs. aquaponics as well as various aquaponic start-to-finish solutions including project planning services, the Aquaponics Master Class (people from 78 countries and all 50 U.S, states!), the Nelson and Pade Grower Program, and the Complete System Packages that meet every application from home production, research, and education up to large commercial projects. Rebecca and John are also the co-founding publishers of The Aquaponics Journal.
Rebecca additionally touches on science-based systems, controlled environment agriculture (CEA), integrated pest management (IPM), and fish diseases. Learn more about their systems as Rebecca talks about their raft system, Clear Flow Aquaponic System, ZDEP offline filtration, continuous loop raft system, clarifiers, NFTs, vertical spaces, and their partnership with University of Wisconsin Stevens Point at the 14,000 sq.ft. Innovation Center.
Tune in to Nate Storey of Bright Agrotech, the innovator of the ZipGrow Tower and a vertical farming expert. Nate started developing the ZipGrow tower while working on his Masters degree, and his PhD was focused on the equipment itself - developing it and testing it for production and for certain market models. Today, Nate sells towers all over the world reaching Australia, Africa, Asia, and all throughout North America and Europe.
Find out more about Nate’s brainchild including the ZipGrow tower design, his criteria for building it, the resulting components, and the learning curve for using it. He also talks about volumetric growing, aeroponic growing, some constraints to doing aquaponics, and understanding the ecosystem approach to red worms, mineralization and nitrification.
Nate also illustrates how to go about planting using the ZipGrow tower and harvesting methods as well as cleaning and maintenance of media. He additionally discusses growing cut & come again crops, live sales, integrating the ZipGrow tower into existing systems, and managing the system against mildew infestation (lighting, humidity, temperature, dark cycle-fruiting, biological products, burning sulfur, etc.)
Lastly, Nate talks about the other products they're developing at Bright Agrotech, and leaves us with a handful of great marketing tips (such as understanding our market, pricing, value of labor, and multiple income streams).