History and Achievements

History

Nelson and Pade was founded in 1985 as a hydroponics (soilless plant production) company, growing and selling fresh vegetables. In the late 80’s, founders, Rebecca Nelson and John Pade, began offering consulting services and publishing books and videos to fill a need for information on soilless farming methods. In the early 90’s the company saw the potential of aquaponic farming, a natural and sustainable method of growing fish and vegetables year-round, and embarked on a path to develop the science of aquaponics into an industry.

Throughout the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Nelson and Pade provided consulting and aquaponic system design services and published the Aquaponics Journal.

In 2004, Nelson and Pade, still a company operated solely by the founders, manufactured their first complete aquaponic system for a client. Following the shipment of that first system, the company saw increasing sales as more and more orders came in for aquaponic systems.

By 2005, the demand for aquaponic systems of all sizes was growing and Nelson and Pade determined that the growth and success of the budding aquaponics industry would require a supplier of quality, complete, standardized aquaponic systems, training and long-term grower support. Nelson and Pade was perfectly poised to fill this need and motivated to do so.

By 2009, the demand was far outpacing the founder’s ability to manufacture in their current location. As people continued to discover aquaponics, the number of people visiting Nelson and Pade’s website, www.aquaponics.com, steadily increased.

The Company founders evaluated the opportunity and made a clear and calculated plan to grow the company. This plan included establishing a company headquarters for manufacturing, advancing the training programs and hiring staff to help the company meet its mission and goals.

In early 2010, Nelson and Pade moved into new facilities to accommodate the growth of the company.

Continued growth brought more expansion to the Nelson and Pade business campus in Montello in 2014, with the additional of additional manufacturing space and a 14,000 sq. ft. greenhouse and training facility.

Growth, development and success has been steady. Individuals from 110 countries have traveled to the Nelson and Pade business campus to attend training. Nelson and Pade, Inc.’s aquaponic systems are operating in 35 countries.

Milestones

How long have you been involved in aquaponics and controlled environment agriculture?

In 1984 we assembled our first hydroponic growing system. That same year, we produced a video on hobby hydroponics and were then contracted by a hydroponic supply company to produce a video on commercial hydroponics. During the production of the video, we interviewed hydroponic growers throughout the US who were growing premium products and selling to local markets. This inspired us to build our first large hydroponic, controlled environment greenhouse in California in 1986. In 1987 we built a second commercial hydroponic greenhouse. We were growing hydroponic tomatoes in these greenhouses and were delivering in excess of 50,000 lbs a year, plus some lettuce, basil, chives and other herbs. We liked the efficiency of hydroponics, but knew that the manufactured and mined fertilizers would someday become scarce and that an organic fertilizer in soilless growing system would be the best of both worlds.

In the late 1980’s we began experimenting with small-scale aquaponic systems to explore the relationship between raising fish and plants in an integrated system. In the early 1990’s we dedicated one of our greenhouses to aquaponics research. We built and designed systems for various applications and we raised largemouth bass, crappies, catfish, fancy goldfish and koi, plus a great variety of vegetables crops in these systems. In 1997 we began publishing the Aquaponics Journal® and started redirecting all of our efforts (publishing, consulting, system design) toward aquaponics. During this time period, we were refining our aquaponic systems, selling aquaponically-grown crops, offering workshops and hands-on training in our intern program.

Since the late 1990’s we have worked diligently to create science-based, highly efficient aquaponic systems. In the mid 2000’s we relocated our business to Wisconsin, at which time we began offering standardized aquaponic systems and training for all applications.

Awards, Recognition and Partnerships

The entire Nelson and Pade, Inc.® Team is honored to be recognized by such prestigious organizations and dignitaries.

• 2021 WI Innovation
  Award Winner
• 2020 WEDC
  “We’re All Innovating”
  Award Winner
• 2019 Force for Positive Change Winner
• Sustainable Product
  of the Year 3-time winner from the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council, 2014, 2017, 2018
• Aquaponic Systems
  Retailer of the Year 2018
  for the Technology Elite Awards by the U.S. Business News!
• 2017 Business Friend of the
  Environmentfrom the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce
• Best Aquaponic Systems
  Provider— USAby the 2018 Clean Energy Awards
• Best Aquaponic
  Food Production Specialist-Midwest USA by the 2018 Clean Energy Awards
• Wisconsin Governor’s
  Export Achievement Award (top finalist)

Nominated: The Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin Nominated: Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year

Recognitions

Presented with Citation By The Legislature by WI State Representative Joan Ballweg and WI State Senator Luther Olsen Presented plaque for participation in the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporations Made in Wisconsin program