KEYNOTE

Tammie McCullough, owner of West KY Aquaponics, will be our featured keynote speaker this year. In her presentation, Tammie will discuss West KY Aquaponics, an 8,000 square foot greenhouse that has been operational since 2018 producing tilapia along with a variety of leafy greens, herbs, and other crops. Additionally, their farm incorporates solar energy to offset energy costs through renewable resources. Tammie will be speaking on how they started, what they have learned, and where they are going. Join us to hear West KY Aquaponics journey in sustainable food production!

Community Efforts

Daniel Muñoz Andrade, President - ADACOL (Colombian Association for Aquaponics Development), will conduct a presentation titled, “Production of fresh and healthy food for vulnerable families through aquaponic systems for self-consumption and small sales in the department of Cauca – Colombia”. He will be presenting on the results obtained from the Aquacol project and how this project was developed.

Research

Fanny Gozzi, PhD student at Purdue University, will be conducting a presentation titled, “Aquaponic Products through the Eyes of U.S. Consumers”. This presentation investigates current awareness and understanding of aquaponics, based on a nationwide survey (N=2,011) of adult primary grocery shoppers across all states. The findings reveal important awareness gaps and food safety concerns that may influence the aquaponics industry, while also exploring consumers’ recognition of existing food certification logos and their potential interest in a dedicated aquaponics label.

Research

Ze Zhu, PhD student at Purdue University, will be conducting a presentation titled, “Environmental assessment of industrial aquaponics using an integrated dynamic model”. This presentation will cover research which investigated innovative water and energy-saving strategies using an integrated dynamic model for on-demand industrial aquaponics systems in arid zones. Results on optimization of the aquaponic system design and various components as well as the climate control within the growing environment will be provided. Though initially designed for Israel, the scalable model can be applied to urban and arid regions globally.

Research

Madeleine Monperrus, a student at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, will conduct a presentation titled, “Designing for Resilience: A Low-Resource Aquaponics System for Rural Mozambique”. This presentation details the design, construction, and performance evaluation of a 1,000-litre closed-loop aquaponics system built for household-scale food production in Linga Linga, a rural fishing village on the Mozambican coast. The system was engineered specifically for low-resource, off-grid conditions, with no reliable electricity or imported inputs, integrating tilapia culture with leafy green production to address chronic food insecurity in the community.

Community Efforts

Donald Jacques, Chief Scientist at EarthSeed, Inc, will be conducting a presentation titled, “CIRES - Aquaculture as a Foundation for Off-Earth Habitat”. The presentation will cover CIRES, which is an aquaculture-based architecture designed to facilitate air and water recycling, food production, and waste processing in a Closed Environment Agriculture setting. The MASH (Mobile Analog Space Habitat) is the current operating prototype demonstrating the system in action to produce Fish, Quail, and a variety of greens, root and fruiting crops.

Research

Josh Dusci, Indoor Agriculture Associate at Virginia State University, will conduct a presentation titled, “Affects of low saline (2ppt) seawater on tilapia and cherry tomato production within raft aquaponic systems”. This presentation will highlight how producers or landowners may be able to utilize seawater in low volumes as an organic nutrient supplementation within aquaponic systems to produce higher yields of cherry tomatoes. Additionally, this presentation will cover how low-saline exposure changes nutrient content and flavor within the cherry tomatoes and the limitations that exist by tapping into seawater for organic nutrient supplementation.

STEM/Educational Experiences

Dr. Alexandre Benvindo de Sousa, Full Professor at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Brazil, will conduct a presentation titled, “Aquaponics as a training tool for young researchers within a junior research fellowship program in Brazil”. His presentation will discuss the project called “Aquaponics COLTEC - An Integrated Food Production System” , where students received scholarships grants provided by a state research agency. This project incorporated Aquaponics as a field for scholar training and scientific development to young researchers (aged 15 to 18).

Research

Timothy Rice, Senior Aquaponics Technician, will conduct a presentation titled, “How water temperature affects crop production: a case study using two varieties of lettuce”. This presentation will cover research investigating how water temperature is rarely treated as a manipulable variable in aquaponic lettuce production, yet a 4°C difference in root-zone temperature produced strikingly divergent outcomes between two lettuce varieties grown under otherwise identical conditions. Salvius gained fresh weight and height in warmer water while Muir lost nearly 40 grams, revealing that the "right" temperature depends entirely on what you're growing.

Basics of Aquaponics

Dr. Michael Timmons, Professor at Cornell University, will conduct a presentation titled, “Advances in Recirculating Aquaculture Systems”. This presentation will cover how aquaponic systems depend upon a well designed fish system that employs recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) principles. How to design this as simple and cost effective as possible. Additionally, a novel RAS system will be presented and discussed with clear applications to aquaponic designs.

Commercial/General Growing

Tyaga Welch of Gilded Granger presents "How to Build and Aquaponics Greenhouse and Garden from Start to Finish." This presentation documents the most recent expansion of Gilded Granger's Medicinal Herb grow operation in a small town near Austin Texas. Tyaga uses video, photo and humor to delineate exactly how to build a simple production greenhouse and Aquaponics Media Beds from scratch. This presentation is intended for participants just starting their AP journey to gift them a guaranteed simple approach to a highly productive Aquaponics System design and build.

Commercial/General Growing

Rob Torcellini, Aquaponics Association Member and Owner of Bigelow Brook Farm, will conduct a presentation titled, “Growing Tomatoes (and strawberries) in Deep Water Culture Beds”. This presentation will share how Rob successfully grows a variety of tomato plants alongside strawberries in his deep water culture beds. Topics such as pest and disease management, water chemistry, and essential plant care techniques will be covered.

Commercial/General Growing

Kengo Hamada and Nelson Wei Tan, Co-founders and CEO of Aquaponi Inc., will conduct a presentation titled, “Commercial Aquaponics in Practice: A Decade and 70+ Farms in Japan, plus an Education Case from Singapore”. This session details how IoT and integrated operating technology are applied in real-world deployments, illustrated with concrete case studies from within Japan. The presentation also covers an education-focused aquaponics project for schools in Singapore, sharing a practical example from the education sector.

Research

Ariana Billings, Undergraduate Research Assistant at Kentucky State University, will conduct a presentation titled, “Substrate effects on kale growth, water quality, and root-associated microbiomes in dutch bucket hydroponic systems”. This presentation examines the effects of perlite, coconut coir, and expanded clay media on kale growth and rhizosphere microbial communities in a closed-loop Dutch bucket system. Understanding how substrate choice influences plant performance and beneficial microbial communities can help farmers optimize crop production and make more informed decisions for sustainable hydroponic and aquaponic agriculture.

Research

Janelle Hager, Aquaponic State Specialist at Kentucky State University, will conduct a presentation titled, “Using Break-Even Analysis to Strengthen Aquaponics Profitability”. This interactive presentation introduces break-even analysis as a practical financial planning tool for aquaponics producers. Participants will explore how fixed costs, variable costs, production volume, pricing, and marketable yield affect the break-even point for both fish and plants. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of the financial targets needed to improve long-term business success.

Basics of Aquaponics

Jeremy Shechter, Founder of Open Source Horticulture, will conduct a presentation titled, “Indoor, Greenhouse or Modular? Choosing the Right CEA Facility for Your Aquaponics Operation”. Drawing on experience supporting projects across 22 states and more than 2 million square feet, Jeremy will will compare indoor, greenhouse and modular systems, including ground-up construction, warehouse conversions and containerized options. Participants will leave with a practical framework for evaluating climate, capital and operating costs, equipment selections, flexibility and performance against your production goals.

Research Projects

Victor Lobanov, Researcher at The University of Gothenburg, will conduct a presentation titled, “Feeding the Tank Without Emptying the Ocean: A Meta-Analysis of Microbial Protein in Aquafeeds”. This presentation synthesizes feeding trials on bacterial, yeast, fungal, and microalgal proteins as fishmeal replacements. The overall meta-analysis of these studies will be presented. The analysis identifies methionine balance, species choice, and inclusion level as key constraints while highlighting fungal protein as a promising but understudied option.

Basics of Aquaponics

Jennifer Wells, CEO of LATERAL.systems, will be conducting a presentation titled, “pH Dynamics in Aquaponics: From Atmospheric Drivers to Shell-Based Buffers”. This presentation will explore how pH dynamics differ across aquaponics system types, inter-relationships between monitored variables, and how oyster shells can serve as a natural, calcium-carbonate buffer to stabilize pH and alkalinity. The session will summarize what is already known about oyster-shell buffering, highlight key research gaps, and outline our team’s planned experiments to generate practical, system-specific design guidelines for the aquaponics community.

Basics of Aquaponics

Glenn Martinez and Natalie Cash, owners and operators of Olomana Gardens, will conduct a presentation titled, “Electric Water Pump vs Airlift Pump”. In their presentation they will cover how airlift pump designs can enable end-users to operate their aquaponic and aquaculture systems more efficiently.