Workshops

[Ironfish]

Hi,
On Fri., I went on the bus tour to different fish operations in this area of the state. Two of the stops were fish proccessors and sales. The rest of the stops were fish growers. All pond people.
I had a great time! Met new people and talked to people I only see once in a while. Great lunch at an Amish farm. He had 4 ponds on his place, (yellow perch and blue gill).
The OSU and Ohio AG. people answered questions on all different topics in between stops. Five stops, We started about 8:30 got back 6:00PM.
The Ohio Soybean Council sponsored the tour. They are looking at Ohio soybean as a fish food for Ohio aquaculture industry.
On Sat., Wife and I went to money workshop along with Big Al and his brother. They covered all the different kind of loans and grants and how to approach them. We found them very helpful.
Maybe Big Al will tell what they thought about the seminar and tell you about his buy of the year!

Ironfish

[Big Al]

hi ironfish, yes the class we attended was very informative. lots of information to digest. there were representatives from the usda talking about farm loans through the farm service service agency (fsa). talking about all the different grants, value added producer grants, loans, low interest loans and so on that are avalible to us in aquaponics and aquaculture. there were representatives there from the sustainable agriculture network (sare) talking about utilizing grants to achieve your farm objectives. there were representatives there from ohio state university (osu) GO BUCKS south centers. talking about how to get $ for aquaculture. along with a fabulous lunch featuring ohio grown grilled talapia out of this world. followed by a q & a with the ohio aquaculture association (oaa). a wonderful organization. so all in all it was well worth the $25 we spent. oh yeah my deal of the year 2 brand new in the box sweetwater regenerative blowers model 2103 for $300. i couldn"t pass it up. thanks Big Al