UW-Stevens Point offering new course in aquaponics
Aquaponics, an innovative, efficient and sustainable agriculture method that combines aquaculture and hydroponics, will be taught for the first time in a university setting at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point during the spring 2012 semester.
UW-Stevens Point’s Continuing Education program, Department of Biology and Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility have partnered with Nelson and Pade Inc. to offer a three-credit, full semester course, Introduction to Aquaponics. The course was developed jointly by Chris Hartleb, UW-Stevens Point professor of biology, and Rebecca Nelson and John Pade of Nelson and Pade, Inc., a Montello-based company specializing in aquaponics technology, systems and training. Aquaponics is the cultivation of fish and plants together in a constructed, re-circulating ecosystem that utilizes natural bacterial cycles to convert fish waste to plant nutrients.
The lectures run from March 1 – May 11, and take place online, each with a self-study session followed by a live chat with one of the three instructors. The hands-on lab sessions will be held at Nelson and Pade Inc.’s demonstration greenhouse in Montello on May 21-23.
“This private/public partnership and the resulting UW-Stevens Point aquaponics course is a new stage in the development of the aquaponics industry and in providing comprehensive training in aquaponics at the university level,” said Hartleb.
"I am extremely excited about this partnership and the potential it represents,” says Nelson. “As the aquaponics industry grows, one of the big issues we face is a lack of trained and educated individuals to fill jobs as aquaponic greenhouse managers and workers. The launch of this course, which I believe is the first of its kind, has the potential to grow into a knowledge-based economic engine to help the aquaponics industry.”
The course will cover an introduction to and history of aquaponics, applications and benefits, system components, water quality dynamics, environmental control, plant crop choices and plant biology, fish selection and fish biology, integrated pest management and biosecurity, daily operation and record keeping, good agricultural practices, economics of aquaponics and marketing.
It is open to students at UW-Stevens Point as well as students from other colleges and universities through UW-Stevens Point Continuing Education (www.uwsp.edu/conted/credit/). For more information, contact Hartleb by email at chartleb@uwsp.edu or 715-346-3228.
The aquaponics course is the newest addition to the aquaculture program at UW-Stevens Point, the only university in the state to offer an undergraduate minor in aquaculture. The program conducts applied research and offers demonstrations, education and outreach to fish farmers and those interested in aquaculture and aquaponics. In addition, the program recently added free online fish health courses. More information about the UW-Stevens Point aquaculture program can be found at http://aquaculture.uwsp.edu.
“The partnership with Nelson and Pade, Inc. is an example of UW-Stevens Point’s involvement in the ‘communiversity,’ helping local businesses and emerging private companies and community-based organizations achieve their entrepreneurial goals” says Hartleb.
UW-Stevens Point also partners with Nelson & Pade, Inc. to offer three-day, one-credit (or continuing education unit) workshops on Aquaponics and Controlled Environments. More information about these 2012 workshops may be found at Nelson and Pade Inc.’s website, www.aquaponics.com.
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