Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Although our company had one of the early websites on the Internet with video, it has been missing from our site for the past decade. We’ve been so busy developing, building and shipping Clear Flow Aquaponic Systems®, creating comprehensive course content, teaching courses, speaking at conferences and writing books, manuals and curriculums, we really hadn’t slowed down to tell our story. Now we are changing that. We've hired videographer, Chad Adams, to launch a new era of aquaponics video on the web.
With all of the poorly shot, shaky, videos of backyard aquaponics on the web, you will see a completely different approach in our videos, which show our fully developed aquaponics systems and methods and an industry that is already developed. We have a clear path to success for aquaponic growers, which includes offering training, science-based systems and tech support using our 20+ years in aquaponics and 30+ years’ experience in controlled environment agriculture.
I am very happy to announce the introduction of Nelson and Pade, Inc.’s videos to aquaponics.com and YouTube. Our new YouTube channel is: http://www.youtube.com/nelsonandpade/
Over the next month, videos will be appearing throughout our website and on our You Tube channel. Here is a sampling of a few:
Clear Flow Aquaponic Systems®
Nelson and Pade, Inc. Workshops
History of Nelson and Pade, Inc.
In watching these videos, you’ll have an opportunity to get to know who Nelson and Pade, Inc. is, as a company, as a leader in the industry and as individuals who make up our highly skilled team.
Enjoy and stay tuned for more!
Posted By
Rebecca Nelson
Saturday, March 24, 2012
We have been having phenomenally warm weather this March in Wisconsin, with daytime temperatures in the 80s all last week. One day recently, we harvested perfectly rip sweet corn grown in our aquaponic systems and, that evening, grilled it with our dinner. As I lit the grill, anxiously awaiting that first bite of corn, I was thinking of all of the amazing foods we have grown in our commercial aquaponic greenhouses over the years.
Way back in the mid 1990’s when we were still living in Mariposa, California, I recall harvesting largemouth bass, perfect tomatoes and fragrant basil, beautiful lettuce and crunchy green beans grown in our aquaponics greenhouse in February. The fresh fish and flavorful vegetables were one of our first complete aquaponically-grown meals and I will never forget the impact it had on us as we reveled in the idea that aquaponics could become a dominant part of agriculture, one which would provide fresh, safe food to people around the world.
Thinking about that meal led John and I to a discussion of the amazing collection of photos from the past 25 years that we have of the crops we’ve grown and the grocery stores and farm markets where our crops were sold, the many greenhouses we’ve built and systems we’ve designed and installed, the many people who have participated in our training programs and that we’ve directly introduced aquaponics to at conferences around the world.
And, we realized that we have a perfect platform to share that, our website. So, in the coming month, I will be adding a pictorial history of our experience and company to our website. It will be a fun and fascinating project to put together that will inspire many fond memories. The funny thing is, we have been growing aquaponically as commercial farmers and educators for so long that the first half of our career is before digital photography. So, my plan for assembling a pictorial history will involve looking through actual photographs and scanning them to show the time period from the mid 1980’s - 2000. And, after that, it is all digital.
Another realization from this discussion is that the experience of our competitors dates back to the last decade (some less). Our experience dates back to the last century. We look forward to continuing to share this experience to help growers get started and be successful in aquaponics. It is this network of success that we are building that is bringing aquaponics to the forefront, and to become the vision that we had in the 1990’s sitting on our deck in Mariposa, eating our first aquaponically-grown meal.
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Rebecca Nelson
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Monday, January 23, 2012
To make learning about aquaponics and planning for your aquaponics venture easier, we’ve scheduled our 2012 workshops as well as launched the first hybrid University aquaponics course in partnership with UW-Stevens Point. This partnership brings together the experience and technology of Nelson and Pade, Inc. with a University platform for education.
Nearly every week I see new aquaponics workshops offered by people who have within the last couple of years, or even in some cases, months, jumped into aquaponics. I love their enthusiasm, but enthusiasm is not the same as knowledge. When you read their workshop agenda, it appears as though their courses are similar to ours. So, I guess I am flattered that people are trying to imitate what we do and how we do it. But, the reality is that we are good at what we do because of the experience that we have. I believe there is no better aquaponics workshop than ours because of the in-depth and diverse knowledge that we have to offer. more »
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Rebecca Nelson
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Saturday, November 12, 2011
If you’ve been looking for a University course in aquaponics but could not find one, your search is over! Nelson and Pade, Inc., is happy to announce that the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point (UWSP), is now offering a 3-credit, full semester course in Aquaponics – Introduction to Aquaponics. This course is a partnership with Nelson & Pade, Inc. and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Continuing Education, Department of Biology, and the Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility. And, the most exciting part is that the course is open to anyone interested. You do not need to be a student at UWSP. more »
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Rebecca Nelson
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Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Wow! Kathleen Paynter, our Operations Manager, just shared our latest workshop statistics with me. Over the past two years, we have had attendees of our workshops from 46 US states and 20 countries! In addition to being very comprehensive and packed with information, every one of our workshops are exciting and fun. The diverse backgrounds of the individual attendees and their plans for using aquaponics for everything from home food production to commercial projects to feeding the hungry, contributes toward the warm and collaborative dynamic. more »
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Rebecca Nelson
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Monday, May 2, 2011
I can’t believe May is already here…the two months of training for our interns going to Haiti is wrapping up; we have a new participant in our Extended Stay Learning Program coming next week and our new Aquaponics 101 workshop is happening May 14. more »
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Rebecca Nelson
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Sunday, March 20, 2011
With the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission aquaponics greenhouse nearly built, we have begun training three enthusiastic people who will be travelling to Haiti to run the new aquaponic system at NWHCM in Saint Louis Du Nord. Ed and Lora Ginter, from Kentucky, and Chris Clarke, from Montana, all arrived at Nelson and Pade, Inc.’s facility in Montello, WI March 8 to kick off their 2 month hands-on training program. more »
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Rebecca Nelson
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Thursday, January 13, 2011
Wow, we are not even two weeks into 2011 and it is already a great year for us! We’ve got exciting news. The Nelson and Pade, Inc. team of aquaponics professionals is growing and we have new books, systems, workshops and announcements coming!
After officially retiring from the University of the Virgin Islands, Dr. James Rakocy is now on our consulting staff in addition to being on our Board of Advisors. more »
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Rebecca Nelson
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Saturday, December 18, 2010
Green-Acres, Nelson and Pade, partners - Kansas City Aquaponics Project
This week John and I travelled to Kansas City to meet with Ms. Carol Coe and the Green Acres Community Garden group. We began talking with Ms. Coe over a year ago about expanding their community garden program into aquaponics and education. A group from Green Acres toured our greenhouse in November of 2009 and, now after a great deal of planning, working and collaborating, they are funded and ready to start the project. more »
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Saturday, December 18, 2010
Our last workshop of 2010 took place December 9-11, 2010 and wrapped up a very successful year of training. Overall for the year, we’ve had over 200 participants in our training programs from 30 states and 15 countries.
The December workshop attendees came from 15 different states, plus Africa, Sweden and Canada to brave the Wisconsin winter and learn about aquaponics. Interests ranged from home food production to social and commercial projects. This was a very fun and well rounded group and we really enjoyed getting to know them all. I am always happy to see friendships blossom among the workshop participants as like-minded individuals share their ideas and plans for aquaponics. John, Kathleen and I made new friends as well and we look forward to long and fruitful relationships with all of the participants in this workshop. more »
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Rebecca Nelson
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