Philosophy

The Aquaponic Farming Course Philosophy is built on three pillars – The Whole Farmer, Tribal Marketing, and Blowing Away Expectations

The Whole Farmer

Our students tell us over and over again that the reason why they selected The Aquaponic Farming Course is because it is, indeed, a complete course. We believe in training the whole farmer for success, starting with showing you how to assess the economic viability of your farm project with tools we’ve developed for your inputs, your conditions and your market. Then we teach you how to build, start and successfully operate an aquaponics farm. You will be given a training manual on Day 1 with detailed instructions and plans for building everything we show you throughout the course on the systems integrated at Fresh Harvest Farm. We know that your time is valuable so we’ve done all the research and trial and error so you don’t have to. Learn how to build, manage and operate:

• Deep Water Culture system
• Media Beds
• NFT System
• Wicking Beds

You will leave with an understanding of what it takes to operate an aquaponic farm and learn proven farm practices and standard procedures to help manage your farm according to current industry food safety criteria. We also teach you how to run a successful farming business by sharing how to market and sell your farm products to restaurants, through CSA’s and at farm markets.  We even show new entrepreneurs how to promote your farm business on the internet. We are invested in your success.

Tribal Marketing

At the heart of both our business approach and our systems design philosophy is the science of Tribal Marketing. What is Tribal Marketing? It is the revolutionary idea that in today’s socially connected world, every small business has the opportunity to build and lead a group of dedicated followers who have given you permission to serve them and also permission to market to them. Part of managing that tribe means providing products the tribe wants and our farm philosophy and system designs cater to that end. We create the flexible and nimble farm, systems and practices that can serve the tribe’s ever changing needs and the products they demand. Not only does this satisfy your tribe with a robust product line but gives you, the farmer, the best chance at profitability and long term viability.

Blowing Away Expectations

We don’t want to just meet your expectations, or even exceed them. We want to completely blow them away. Many people come to our training classes with the hope that it will be the catalyst for a major change in their lives. We take the responsibility you place with us very seriously. We ask for your evaluation of every session, of every course, every time. And after every course, our team gets together and asks the question “what can we do better and what more can we offer?” And what we offer doesn’t end there. We share new system developments with course graduates so your business and farm can continue to grow and evolve with ours.

More about the business of aquaponic farming…

One of the things that really sets this course apart is the experience level of the teaching team, not only around aquaponics, but also around the business of aquaponics. Ask around and you will discover that when aquaponic farms have failed in the past it is not necessarily because the aquaponics that failed, but often because the business failed. We are committed to giving our students the tools they need so they can be successful in ALL aspects of farming.

With our session on farm marketing and sales, its out with the old and in with the new social marketing tools where the “internet farmer” is integral in today’s market place. This eye-opening session impresses upon future farmers how to use social media and online tools to connect to your community and how to build your tribe. This session was co crafted with Sylvia Bernstein, the former VP of Marketing for AeroGrow International, who also has a Masters in Business Administration from one of the top business schools in the U.S. Sylvia is best known as the author of the Amazon best selling book, “Aquaponic Gardening” however what she has brought to this session is a deep understanding of how to masterfully build a successful business in today’s interesting social media marketing world. This section is then capped off with a highly practical farm sales overview. Here they share the secrets of merchandising at farmers markets, selling to restaurant chefs, and creating a Buying Club or online produce store from the perspective of owners of a successful aquaponics farm and what owner investment means to your farm business.