KEYNOTE

Brian Guse, Director of USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production will be providing our 2025 keynote speaker address! He will cover the impacts of his office since its 2018 farm bill inception. Specifically Brian will cover how his office and its resources has had a significant impact for the aquaponics and innovative production sectors, urban agriculture, and communities across the nation.

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!

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!