Case in point: I recently attended a 3-day seminar in Connecticut, hosted by Farm Tek, entitled “CEA” which stands for Controlled Environment Agriculture. I was one of 35 students, and the demographic mix was incredible. There were four high school teachers, one mushroom farmer, one marijuana farmer, two farmers who already had hydroponic ventures, and the balance, old fashioned dirt farmers, hobby gardeners, and me. I guess until recently, I’d have to classify myself as a hobby gardener, although looking at some of my effort, many people would call me a plant butcher! (As in the Sweeny Todd definition). In my defense, soil is poor here in South Carolina, and the growing season is brutally hot and humid. Which by the way, is what makes CEA farming so vastly superior to plowed fields, requiring massive amounts of irrigation.
This seminar had a variety of speakers, including the marketing manager, an engineer, “real” farm techs who gave hands-on demonstrations, and outside speakers who had farming ventures, fertilizer vendors, etc. With so many changing faces and voice tones, it was impossible to be bored for even a second. Topics ranged from fodder to greenhouse structures, integrated pest management to marketing, sizing a hydroponic system to nutrient solution testing. The 8 ½ x11 3-ring “workbook” was a full 2 inches thick, supplemented by various white papers, flyers, and brochures. I have read and re-read sections of the workbook and found that I learned more with each session.
At the end of three days, I had exactly four questions to ask our sales representative because every other potential question had been answered by the excellent classroom instruction. Not surprisingly, those four questions dealt directly with the greenhouse setup which my son had ordered, and specifically addressed the best location for the evaporative cooling wall, the tilapia tanks, controlling algae, and whether we could circulate nutrient solution from the float trays to Dutch buckets and pump it back to the fish tanks.
In conclusion, please do yourself a favor, and find a seminar that you can attend. The money is well spent (and the provided lunches were very tasty!)
Visit FarmTek at www.farmtek.com