Expanding Local Food Production through Aquaponics and Hydroponics

Presentation by speakers and panel discussion recorded at Great Lakes Bioneers McHenry County 2014 speaker series.

Andy McGhee (Chicago Botanic Garden's Aquaponics Specialist) is the staff aquaponics specialist for the Chicago Botanic Garden's Windy City Harvest (WCH) educational programs. He designed, implemented and manages the operations of two aquaponics systems for the Chicago Botanic Garden's WCH: One, a modest educational and research system for the WCH adult education program, is located at Richard J. Daley College. A larger training and small production system is located inside the Cook County Jail V.R.I.C. facility. He has worked for many years as a construction project manager, specializing in historic and landmark building re-use/development. He has a life-long interest in community development, the natural environment and issues of environmental sustainability.

Kirk Cashmore (local hydroponics farmer) is the owner of Cashmore’s Produce and Ponics, a farm started in 2010 with a different approach to traditional growing. Its current approach is vertical hydroponics with a twist of adventure, ingenuity, and self-sustainability. Now, after three years of construction, design, and tweaking a barn for inside year round food production, the operation in Harvard, Illinois is capable of producing 3200 heads of lettuce and 180 tomato plants. Heated with one bio mass heater and a homemade solar air furnace, its fuel footprint is relatively small. Kirk delivers his fresh produce weekly to local establishments and farmers markets.

David Nabong is a garden and horticultural specialist with Brew and Grow Alternative Garden Supply located in Crystal Lake, IL. This position involves product support with sales and horticultural support for hobbyist customers as well as being the liaison to area high schools that benefitted from Brew and Grow's donation event. At MCC, David is an adjunct instructor to the horticultural department, currently teaching Topics in Horticulture: Intro to Hydroponics. This semester long course involves hands-on experience and theoretical study on hydro/aquaponic plant production and system maintenance.

Green Means Go! Jobs, Renewable Energy, and the Future of Power

From the Great Lakes Bioneers McHenry County 2014 Speaker Series. Sarah L. White is a Senior Associate at the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS), a national policy center at the University of Wisconsin dedicated to high-road economic development. Her work focuses on the intersection of labor, education, and energy policy at state and federal levels, and she is a national expert on jobs and training in the emerging green economy. White has written widely on education for sustainability and social change, including, most recently, Greener Reality: Resilience, Equity, and Skill Formation in a Cleaner U.S. Economy. She sits on the Leadership Council of the National Skills Coalition, chairs the National Working Group on Solar Career Pathways for the US Department of Energy, and served as the Secretary’s policy advisor for federal employment and training programs at Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development.

Recorded February 4th, 2014 at the Luecht Conference Center, McHenry County College, Crystal Lake, Illinois.

Linda Mallers of FarmLogix, LLC speaks about working with local farmers to relieve growers of logistical concerns, and help the Chicago market to support local businesses and put dollars back into the Midwest economy.

FarmLogix, LLC is a farm-to-plate online aggregation platform connecting local farmers with commercial kitchens, cafeterias and schools. Growers each get a free webpage listing their products, and smaller farms can aggregate their availability to meet institutional needs. The network includes 300 growers within a 250-mile radius of Chicago.

A separate division offers home-delivered boxes of local farm products for non-profit and school fundraisers, as well as for corporate wellness programs,

Taped February 5, 2013 at Great Lakes Bioneers McHenry County speaker series at the Luecht Conference Center, McHenry County College, Crystal Lake, Illinois.

Fracking 101: What, Where and Why? High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas

Presented by Jack Darin, director, Illinois Sierra Club. Taped February 12, 2013 at the Great Lakes Bioneers McHenry County speaker series at the Luecht Conference Center, McHenry County College, Crystal Lake, Illinois

Towards an Economics of Shared Prosperity in a Finite World

Presented by Jon Erickson, professor of ecological economics and the interim dean of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont. Explores the foundations from which to build an economy for the century of the environment, designing resilient systems that align human nature with the realities of growing resource scarcity. Taped January 22, 2013 at Great Lakes Bioneers McHenry County speaker series at McHenry County College.

Erickson has published widely on energy and climate change policy, land conservation, watershed planning, environmental public health, and the theory and practice of ecological economics. His books include "The Great Experiment in Conservation: Voices from the Adirondack Park" (2009), "Frontiers in Ecological Economic Theory and Application" (2007), "Ecological Economics of Sustainable Watershed Management" (2007), and "Ecological Economics: a Workbook for Problem-Based Learning" (2005). He is also an Emmy award-winning producer of films such as the four-part PBS series, "Bloom," on sources and solutions to nutrient pollution in Lake Champlain. He was the Managing Director of UVM's Gund Institute for Ecological Economics from 2009-2012 and is past president of the U.S. Society for Ecological Economics. He has been a Fulbright Scholar at the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania and a visiting professor at several universities overseas. He is a graduate of the doctoral program in natural resource economics from Cornell University.

Engaging In Transformation

Nancy Tuchman, director of the Institute of Urban Environmental Sustainability (IUES) at Loyola University Chicago, speaks about how Loyola is seeking to become a carbon-neutral institution, which engages all stakeholders in the process of sustainable decision-making considering the social, economic and environmental impacts through a transformative educational experience.
Recorded at Great Lakes Bioneers McHenry County 2013 Speaker Series