OPENING CEREMONY KEYNOTE

Megan Sorby, CEO of Pine Island Redfish, will conduct the opening ceremony keynote presentation. Her presentation will provide an in-depth perspective on Pine Island’s unique approach to Aquaponics, which will leave attendees feeling inspired and set the tone of the conference.

BANQUET DINNER KEYNOTE

Jack Cover, General Curator at The National Aquarium will be giving our Banquet Keynote titled, “Harbor Wetland: restoring wetland habitat to a waterfront city”! He will enlighten the evening with an experiential tour and overview of the Floating Wetland Exhibit, which opened in 2024 at The National Aquarium. To learn more about this project you can visit the link: https://aqua.org/explore/exhibits/harbor-wetland

Jack also extended the invite for anyone to visit the harbor wetland in person, free of charge, throughout the conference!

TUESDAY MORNING KEYNOTE

Judith Horvath, Director of Research & Development at Eden Earth and a trailblazer in regenerative agriculture, will deliver a dynamic keynote address titled “Aquaponics: Pioneering Resilient Local Food Systems for a Regenerative Future.” Judith brings a powerful blend of business acumen and agroecological expertise. Judith will ignite enthusiasm for aquaponics as a key player in regenerative agriculture, exploring its transformative potential to create resilient local food systems. Drawing on her work as an agroecologist,  she will share insights on leveraging aquaponics to rebuild living soils, enhance nutrient-dense food production, and foster community-driven sustainability.

Research Projects

Josh Dusci, Indoor Agriculture Associate from Virginia State University will be conducting a presentation titled, “Aquaponic Research and Extension Programming at Virginia State University”. This presentation will cover ongoing research and extension, the impacts of the efforts, as well as future projects and trends.

Community/Educational Experiences

Tammy Cole, Director of Operations at Healthy Harvest Fresh, will conduct a presentation titled, “Growing the Future, the Journey of Healthy Harvest Fresh”. In her presentation she will cover the various educational experiences/programming, thriving community partnerships, applied research opportunities for students, and the abundant supply of fresh healthy produce and protein Healthy Harvest Fresh has been able to provide to the surrounding VA community.

Commercial/General Growing

T.Shane Johnson, Owner of Big Guns Coffee, will conduct a presentation titled, “Sustainable, Hydroponic Coffee Farms in the US. From Vision to Reality”. Pioneering the first innovative indoor hydroponic coffee farm in North Carolina, T. Shane will walk the audience through his vision to bring Coffee Farming to the United States. He is the founder of Big Guns Coffee https://www.biggunscoffee.com/, the only indoor Coffee Farm working on building Coffee Farms throughout the US.

Basics of Aquaponics

Justin Leavitt, Business Development for Moleaer, will conduct a presentation titled, “Oxygenation! Basic principals, Best Practices and Why it Matters”. This presentation will cover basic principles of oxygenation, best practices, and what role oxygen provides from a plant production and pathogen standpoint. Key takeaways will be reviewing what is too much and not enough oxygen, how to increase oxygen transfer through equipment and other means everyday growers can implement, and what you can expect when dialing in dissolved oxygen levels.

Basics of Aquaponics

Dr. Michael Timmons, Graduate Professor at Cornell University and Executive Director at The Aquaculture Engineering Society, will conduct a presentation titled, “Mass Balances, Loading Rates with Applications to Aquaponics”. This presentation will cover basic principles of mass balances for aquaponics systems and will provide with application to aquaponics and design examples.

Commercial/General Growing

Adam Cohen, Director of Growing Operations at Timberview Farmstead, will conduct a presentation titled, “Timberview Farmstead: Lessons Learned in Our First Year of Operation”. This presentation will cover the journey Timberview Farmstead has come since the Association toured our site during. the 2024 Conference. Learn about the various plants and fish grown since then, and learned a number of lessons along the way. Learn about the struggles Timberview has faced, how they have overcome them, and where they are headed!

Commercial/General Growing

Elshan Bal, Partner at Greenway Farms, will conduct a presentation titled, “Beyond the Harvest: Creating Value-Added Products with Aquaponic Fish and Crops”. In this session, Elshan will explore how to turn your aquaponic harvest into seasoned fish fillets, herb-infused teas and lemonades (Purple Basil & Thyme), pesto, and hummus using herbs like fresh basil. Additionally, this presentation will cover key considerations like food safety, processing setup, product development, and small-scale marketing.

Commercial/General Growing

Carlos Leon, CIO at BoFish, will conduct presentations titled, “Integrated Multi-trophic Aquaponics with Brackish water for Fish and Shrimp” and “The Aquaponics Lifestyle Model”. In these presentations, Carlos will explore several projects that BoFish is involved in from systems that integrate agritourism to more in-depth technical systems that co-produce fish and shrimp within a brackish water aquaponic system.

Commercial/General Growing

Amber Vallotton, Food Safety Extension Specialist at Virginia Tech, will conduct a presentation titled, “Mentoring Aquaponic Growers in GAP Certification Preparation”. In her presentation, Amber will highlight the primary food safety hazards in aquaponic systems, describe the basic steps of assisting growers in the audit process, and will share a case study video about her work with the first aquaponics farm to be GAP-certified within Virginia.

Research Projects

Curtis Childress, Agricultural Research Assistant at Virginia State University, will conduct a presentation titled, “Impact of Saline Water on Aquaponic System Performance: A Comparative Study of Freshwater and Saline Conditions for Fish and Plant Growth”. His presentation will cover a recently completed research project that investigated the effects of saline water (5 ppt) on aquaponic system performance and plant growth and quality of three different species (Kale, Swiss Chard, and Watercress).

Commercial/General Growing

Jen Wells, CEO of Lateral.Systems, will be conducting a presentation titled, “How to recognize imbalances before visible physical damage occurs”. This presentation is geared towards helping growers to recognize impending or actual imbalances in time to make correction before the value of crops or the health of fish is compromised. The presentation will discuss plant and fish tolerance levels, physiological responses that occur when one or more parameter is out of tolerance range, and demonstrate how the LATERAL Edge Platform data insights help farmers to recognize imbalances and make gradual corrections that avoid further stressing plants, fish, and the microbial community within the grow system.

Commercial/General Growing

Kelly Ochuko Egode, Founder and CTO of Omfeonix Agritech Ltd, will be conducting a presentation titled, “AquaECO AI: Bridging Energy Efficiency and Water Quality in Aquaponics”. The presentation will discuss an AI copilot for your aquaponics system—alerting you to energy waste, water imbalances, and even suggesting fixes. This copilot is AquaECO AI, which was built during AI for Energy Solution MIT 2025. Demonstration will be provided of how the tool’s dashboard and chatbot interface empower growers to cut costs and prevent losses, with examples from pilot deployments. Attendees will leave with a roadmap to implement AI-driven insights in any growing situation!

Research Projects

German Merino, Associate Professor at Universidad Catolica del Norte, will be conducting a presentation titled, “Bio-Integrated Production System Technology and an International Network”. In his presentation German will emphasize R&D between two Chilean institutions, one from the agriculture side and the other from aquaculture. Then we will provide an overview regarding the joint R&D and the deployment of pilot-scale aquaponic systems in several institutions to strengthen the technology transfer. And finally will describe international networking on bio-integrated systems.

Commercial/General Growing

Joe Pate, Founder and CEO of Regen Aquaculture will conduct presentations titled, “Aquaponics That Pays: Low-Cost Models for High-Return Investments” and “Brutal Economics, Smart Investments: Modeling the Real Risk, Return, and Reality of Aquaponics”. These presentations will cover new economic models created at Regen Aquaculture through a partnership with University of Gothenburg as well as showcasing aquaponic systems and models that are worth investing in.

Research Projects

Emma Louise Smith, Graduate Student at Tarleton State University, will conduct a presentation titled, “Evaluating Black Solider Fly Larvae and Spirulina Algae as a Feed Alternative for Tilapia in Aquaponics”. Her presentation will cover her masters thesis project that produced data for developing more sustainable and efficient aquaponic feeding practices using BSFL and Algae based feeds.

STEM/Educational Experiences

Michael Adrain Barnes, Owner of Island Aquaponics and Tilapia Hatchery, will conduct a presentation titled, “Aquaponics - A Model of a Truly Sustainable Future”. His presentation will explore how teaching aquaponics from primary school to graduation is our best chance of a sustainable future for food production in developed countries and food equity in developing economies. He will document the journey by Island Aquaponics to achieving this practical realization of this goal and while highlighting the areas of basic research required.

STEM/Educational Experiences

Kenneth Rust, CEO of Enterprise Aquatics, will conduct a presentation titled, “STEM Vs Agriscience: Barriers & Perceptions”. His presentation will cover how aquaponics provides an avenue to interact with several different facets of science and related learning and is attracting attention and engagement from STEM programs. Touching on the history of agriscience programs and answering the question of how can we learn from the success of the agriscience programs and integrate success for aquaponics?

STEM/Educational Experiences

Jenna Glazier, Student Greenhouse Assistant at Saginaw Valley State University, will conduct a presentation titled, “Comparative Analysis of Aquaponic Cultivation of Cucumis sativus”. Her presentation will cover recent trials at SVSU that evaluated commercially available gynoecious parthenocarpic varieties of Cucumis sativus (cucumber), including Excelsior, Katrina, and Picolino by recording yield data and growth parameters during 6-week trial periods, one during Autumn and the other during Winter. Jenna will present and elaborate on the results of these trials.

STEM/Educational Experiences

Amy Lang, 4-H Youth Development Educator at The University of Maryland, will conduct a presentation titled, “4-H Amazing Aquaponics Club!" During her presentation Amy will will provide an overview of the 4-H Amazing Aquaponics program and share resources and tips for replication. Session participants will get to take part in several of the activities we use with students to inspire increased interest and opportunity in innovative environmental science fields.

Research Projects

Jelili Adebiyi, Professor at Northern Michigan University, will conduct a presentation titled, “Aquaponics in Northern Michigan: Opportunities and Challenges for Economic Growth and Food and Nutrition Security”. Jelili’s presentation will cover a study conducted by NMU on how aquaponics could contribute to addressing livelihood needs in the Northern Michigan Peninsula area. The presentation will focus on the findings from the study and how the results will be applied to drive aquaponics-inspired economic growth and food security in the Upper Peninsula.

Commercial/General Growing

Johnny Moretto (and Andrea Zorzi) of Atea Group S.r.l S.b (Italy) will conduct a presentation titled, “Aquaponics in Northeastern Italy: From Innovation Projects to a Aquaponic Farmers Network”. This presentation will showcase their Italian experience in aquaponics, based on three innovation projects: 1) SmartAP (completed); 2) OASI (ongoing), and 3) IA Aquaponic (ongoing). The presentation will highlight how these three projects have enabled the creation of a network of aquaponic producers supplying large-scale retail, ensuring excellent profits for farmers in Italy.

Basics of Aquaponics

Brian Zlotkin of Bergen Aquaponics will conduct a presentation titled, “Additive-Free "Slow" Cycle Microbiome Establishment in Aquaponics”. This presentation will cover the "Slow" Cycling method utilized by Bergen Aquaponics which allows the microbiome to become established naturally using small live fish and more fish are added gradually to the system until the microbiome is mature enough to support plants. The presentation will touch on the ratios of fish mass, water volume, and substrate volume that allow the system to naturally balance itself.

Research Projects

Dr. Paul Brown, Professor at Purdue University, will conduct a presentation titled, “Sustainability in the 21st century and the role of aquaponics”. In his presentation, Dr. Brown will discuss the work being done at Purdue assessing the environmental impacts of aquaponics using quantitative metrics. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) evaluations of several aquaponics scenarios will be presented and discussed.

Research Projects

Ze Zhu, Postdoctorial Student at Purdue University, will conduct a presentation titled, “Microbial dynamics in novel decoupled aquaponics with different cultivation substrates”. This presentation will cover a study conducted at Purdue, which evaluated multiple plant substrates and quantified the microbial communities using crucian carp and cherry tomatoes. Results will be presented showcasing how the substrates exerted a significant impact on microbial communities, with substrate type and particle size impacting microbial communities at the phylum and genus level, respectively.

Research Projects

Timothy Rice, Senior Aquaponics Technician at Purdue University, will conduct a presentation titled, “Evaluation of three commercial aquaculture feeds for use in aquaponic production of tilapia and lettuce”. This presentation will cover the ten-week study that evaluated three commercial aquaculture feeds in the production of tilapia and lettuce. The lettuces compared are heat tolerant varieties: Muir, Crispino, and Salvius. Study duration will be two harvests of lettuce from a deep-water culture system.

Commercial/General Growing

Brian Lio, CEO of Grand Frontier Farms, will conduct a presentation titled, “Developing Highly Productive, Low-cost, Aquaponic Vertical Farming Systems”. Brians presentation will provide an overview on Grand Frontier Farms progress and approach in developing a low cost aquaponic farming system capable of competing with current “state of the art” vertical farms. A look into the system’s design as well as results from our prototype farm will be provided throughout his presentation.

Commercial/General Growing

Jeremy Shecter, Founder of Open Source Horticulture, will conduct a presentation titled, “What Cannabis Cultivation Can Teach Us About Scaling Aquaponics: Lessons from a Decade in CEA”. In this 20-minute session, Jeremy draws on over a decade of experience in both aquaponics and cannabis to share practical systems integration strategies that aquaponics operators can use to streamline operations, reduce friction, and build for long-term performance. Whether you're building from scratch or upgrading your setup, this session will help you think holistically and operate more smoothly using lessons hard-earned in the cannabis space.

Commercial/General Growing

Tawnya Sawyer, Co-Owner of The Aquaponic Source, will conduct a presentation titled, “Lessons Learned from Success and Failure”. In this presentation, Tawnya will review 15 years of The Aquaponic Sources’ successes and failures. Offering a variety of tips and tricks to avoiding mistakes and improving outcomes. The more you know the more you grow!

Community Efforts (VIRTUAL)

Gugulethu Mahlangu, CEO of House Harvest, will conduct her presentation titled, “Rice paddy in aquaponics for circular transition solutions in mining areas”. Her presentation will cover the integration of rice paddies into aquaponics systems as an innovative solution for sustainable agriculture in mining and water scarce regions. The session will highlight pilot trials, environmental benefits such as methane reduction and circular resource usage, as well as opportunities for youth employment and community food systems.

All presenters who indicated they would like to have their content on our website are included in this list, some presenters are not shown, others are still on their way!