A Seven-Month Training Course in Aquaponic Farming

This class meets the third Sunday of the month, Oct 2026-May 2027. Are you interested in pursuing a career in aquaculture, or diversifying your farm with aquaponics? Growing fish and greens together provides both fresh organic greens and uncontaminated protein from fish. This 7-month course will give you the foundational knowledge you need to build a functioning aquaponic unit and manage the system through the life course of your fish. We will be using yellow perch in a hoophouse at Amador Hill Farm as our lab.

Aquaponics is the art and science of cultivating fish and plants together in a constructed, re-circulating closed-loop ecosystem, utilizing natural bacterial cycles to convert fish wastes to plant nutrients. WEI’s aquaponic training program is a seven-month lecture and hands-on experience course. The class will begin with basics in aquaponics and aquaculture. Each month we will explore a new topic of study as it relates to aquaponics. The topics will range from aquaponic water chemistry and fish ecology, design and equipment for aquaponic tubs, fish and plant health, planting techniques for growing aquaponic vegetables, system maintenance and equilibrium, equipment resources, lighting/energy efficiency, spawning and fish ribbons, harvesting and market planning, and state regulations for aquaponic farming in Minnesota. This 7-month Training Course will provide you with basic knowledge and skills for building and managing a living aquaponic system.

All are welcome. WEI classes are open to everyone.

Instructor bio: Chad Hebert owned and operated the Urban Farm Project for more than 10 years. The Urban Farm Project successfully raised more than 30,000 pounds of yellow perch and almost 50,000 pounds of vegetables. For the past nine years, Chad has participated in a cooperative research agreement with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Science. Chad has completed his HACCP training for both AIS and seafood processing. The Urban Farm Project was involved in a number of aquaponic projects including the project at WEI. Chad is currently working with EPNI to coordinate and implement a larger scale operation. Chad Hebert started the Urban Farm Project with the belief that there was a need to build sustainable food systems that could be available to all people while protecting the planet we live on.

Register here: Aquaponic Farming: From Fingerling to Fish Fry – Women’s Environmental Institute