Fishing For Change
June 13, 2010
Business
by Jane Burns
An excerpt from the article
MONTELLO — Rebecca Nelson and John Pade have one simple goal as their company grows and moves to a new facility along Highway 23: They want to feed the world.
They don’t plan to do that with anything they grow in their greenhouses. It’s through the development, education and selling of products for aquaponics that their company — Nelson and Pade Inc. — seeks to make a difference in the way people grow or acquire food.
Aquaponics is the combination of two practices: aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (growing plants without soil). Fish waste provides the nutrients the plants need, all in one integrated system.
“We’re trying to reinvent the 21st century family farm and make it profitable,” Pade said.