Last week the CEDC crew met up with the team at Aqua Garden, LLC – Barron County Economic Development Corporation’s “Rising Star of the Year” award winner for a podcasting session. Barron County Economic Development Corporation is an outstanding collaborator with the CEDC and Momentum West and specializes in economic gardening activities. The purpose of the visit was to update Aqua Garden on the upcoming Farm Technology Days event hosted in Chippewa County in 2024. While there, Charlie and Casey also learned all about their innovative operation and how it is changing the world of agriculture.
The Aqua Garden facility is an old potato storage warehouse that has been upcycled and repurposed into a facility that houses a system which yields over 1,500 lbs of walleye and 25,000 lbs of herbs each year! The old potato warehouse has great insulation which reduces energy costs while also having ventilation to ensure freshness – making it an ideal location for the aquaponics operation.
The aquaponics system has a flexible design to allow you to grow food from almost anywhere. To keep it simple, (we will be leaving it to the experts to go into detail…) – the walleye live in the fish tanks. As they feed and create waste, the waste is separated out solid from liquids. The liquid waste is then sent through a nitrification process and the nutrient rich water is sent to the hydroponic system for the plants to consume.
The team at Aqua Garden chose to farm Walleye instead of the traditional tilapia or perch to keep it as “Wisconsin” as possible. They found a niche in the market. They harvest both the walleye and herbs once mature. These fresh herbs and fish filets are then sold to local food markets for us to enjoy.
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