Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi, I'm planning a trip to America with the intention to get training and acquire what is necessary to establish a commercial aquaponics system in my country. For this I would like to learn from the best.
I wonder where and with whom it would be worth training in commercial aquaponics. The model to be implemented with growing lettuces and rainbow trout, so it would be ideal to contact me with any farm to develop this type of culture.

I welcome your comments.

Best regards!

Welcome to the forum, Ozasch!

There are some very nice university programs devoted to Aquaponics. I don't know any more
about one versus the other, but here's an example of what I'm talking about:

Aquaponics at Kentucky State University Aquaculture Research Center



The University of the Virgin Islands has one of the oldest ongoing research centers of Aquaponics.
Their workshops are well respected:

UVI Aquaponics Workshop

Our very own Ryan Chatterson (of Chatterson Farms) in the past has offered what is reported as an
intense and excellent Aquaponics workshop. I don't know if he still does that, but it would be worth
looking into.

Chatterson Farms
Chatterson Farms on Facebook
BYAP Member: Ryan

It would be wise to talk to people who have been to a workshop before spending a lot of money
taking some workshop and to research what kind of reputation a place has before you devote a
lot of time training at some facility. I'm sure there are some self-study programs and/or workshops
that some consider a complete waste of money...
Tell us more about your grand vision!

Good luck!

Sam

Ozasch,

Have you studied many of the nice, freely available, online resources about this topic?



Much cheaper airfare than would be for training in another country!

Along those lines, there are many university level courses one can take online these days.
Often times a course can be audited for free (i.e. taking the course but without official credit.)
I don't know any more about this University of Hawaii online aquaponics course, but it could
be something like you are looking for:

UH is now offering new online aquaponics classes
Aquaponics Entrepreneurship Courses at UHMC

--
Sam

Sorry, I can't resist pointing out something to watch out for when studying Aquaponics...

USC - Advancing Aquaponics at Wrigley Marine Science Center

Attachment:

AP_H_Cycle.png [ 141.31 KiB | Viewed 19674 times ]

Yeah... make sure you're studying the right cycle.

--
Sam

You can get all the training in the world but most of the work needs to be done your end, in your local area. If it was as simple as attending a course then we would all be doing it. Learning to design a commercial system is a very small piece of the pie.

Oh, but good luck all the same.

Thanks nosliwmas, I'll consider your advice.

Point out what can be a good alternative, but I think in person trained in a country where the aquaponía longest-development can be a competitive advantage when establishing a pioneering project, as it would in this case.

I understand your point Charlie, but life has taught me that it is faster and cheaper to learn from the mistakes of others than personal mistakes. It is true that the personal mistakes is learned, but it is also true that they will always be anyway.

Ozasch, I agree 100%. Being trained by someone who has "walked the walk" is money well spent. For the investment, I think Ryan Chatterson's course is if not the best, certainly a top three. He's one of the few people that is actually making a living off his farm. A lot of people advertise as consultants, but how many have designed, built, and run a money making Aquaponics operation?

Besides, I haven't seen anyone who can match his quality on a week in and week out basis.

smart people learn by making mistakes. wise people learn from smart people.

Exactly

I would ask the following question before I took a course from anyone:

"Is your farm self-supporting without taking in $ from classes, government grants, special low interest loans, sales of equipment, consulting fees, franchise fees, endowments, awards, investor funds, inheritance, grateful widows(ers), fund raisers, special tax incentives not available to all farms in general (educational/experimental/job creation incentives etc.) or sales of any produce not directly resulting from the aquaponic based farm operations?"

THEN I would make my decision.

Completely agree. Chatterson can answer yes to that, and I'm not sure too many others can. With all due respects to UVI, having interns work for 40 hours a week can really improve your R.O.I.

Having some of my athletes work at internships, I understand the facts regarding this type of indenturement. lol

All the local experts that charge a grand or more make more money selling their "expertise" then they make selling produce and fish. That tells me a lot about their business model.

We had a huge aquaponics facility here (Well before aquaponics was coined)... multiple 40 foot diameter tanks for tilapia feeding a huge greenhouse growing basil. They used mentally handicapped workers who lived in a group home who were trying to make a living on their own (A great project by the way, not a slight in any sense!) and the wages were paid for by the state. they still went under despite over 6 million in investments when mexico flooded the market with cheap basil and tilapia started pouring in from Vietnam.

You HAVE to know your costs and markets. Just being able to grow the stuff is not sufficient. Yes, a greenhouse that only grows plants can be profitable and adding fish should be a no-brainer, but it adds costs and you have to understand that.

I know my reply initially generated some protests and I wanted to answer the thread but now can't find it... my point was not that there's anything wrong with alternative, additional income... just make sure you are aware of the business model of wherever you are taking training from.