[Sc-aquaponics] Update from Ohio State Extension Aquaculture Program

[Smith, Matthew A.]

Aquaculture and Aquaponic Community,

Below is a long e-mail but hopefully a necessary one to keep folks up to date about what I know now and what we (Extension) are trying to do to help.

No doubt you and your family have already been impacted by this rapidly evolving situation, and my sympathies go out to everyone. Daily, sometimes hourly, I am also learning new information about how not only the university, but Ohio State Extension, is/will be responding to COVID-19. As of right now, you are welcome to still visit with me at my office (see below for details) until TOMORROW, March 18th, but they are strongly discouraging me from even crossing county lines until further notice - something rather hard to do as an Extension worker with state-wide/region-wide responsibilities. (I actually learned I will be telecommuting from home while writing this e-mail). I am reporting from home as much as possible though so please let me know if you intend on swinging by. Feel free to e-mail me here (smith.11460 at osu.edu<mailto:smith.11460 at osu.edu>) or call/text my cell (256.458.0967) if you have any questions or just want to talk to me about your experience/concerns/comments (farm wise or otherwise) with this. Just because there is a lot of transition right now does not mean our University is shut down - we are still here for our clientele. I have talked to some of you (or via third parties) and I know many of you are already feeling strong market disruptions (highs and lows!), labor shortages, and a host of unknowns. Know that if there is a question I cannot answer, I will still try my best to find that answer out as Extension is still functioning.

Ag Crisis Updates: A website you should be very aware of is the CFAES Ag Crisis website - https://u.osu.edu/2019farmassistance/home/. To my knowledge, there is nothing COVID-19 related, but there is a section on Farm Stress with a host of high-quality resources that you should utilize and please share with others as you see fit.

Unfortunately, the possibility of farmers needing to compost fish if there is no way to sell harvestable product (and younger fish need to expand to larger tanks/ponds/etc.) has been on my mind. I just received an e-mail from Ohio State Extension discussing eXtension.org<http://eXtension.org>’s Livestock Mortality Composting Certificate. While it’s unlikely to be geared towards fish/shrimp in anyway, it’s good to know it’s a resource. Part of the e-mail exchange is below.

Additionally, Caird Rexroad with USDA ARS just shared an e-mail from ATOL and there is some good information here for people to learn from. As always, go through any of this material and if you have questions then feel free to let me know.

Caird’s e-mail: Please spread the news: The AquacultureHub foundation has changed the ATOLL (Aquaculture Training Online Learning) course price to FREE. Please use the link below to learn how to grow your own food.
https://www.udemy.com/course/atoll-introduction-to-aquaculture/

Ohio State Extension e-mail: Hi all, Just a reminder that the Livestock Mortality Composting Certification is still available as an online course and people take the course every month. Details here:https://campus.extension.org/enrol/index.php?id=608. Please share with clientele if they need their composting certificate. Amanda

As always, keep in mind NCRAC.org<http://NCRAC.org> and srac.tamu.edu<http://srac.tamu.edu> for your fact sheet and video needs - a fact sheet that might be 20 years old might be something that is completely necessary in this time.

For those who will be harvesting plant crops as part of your aquaponic system, if your restaurant or even direct-to-consumer market has completely shut down with no possible sales outlet, please consider your neighbors and your own livestock.

I also just recently created a new Listserv called Aqua-Education (aqua-education at lists.osu.edu<mailto:aqua-education at lists.osu.edu>). You can sign up here (https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/aqua-education). I originally planned this for just Ohio, but I think it makes more sense to focus on any STEM programs in the Midwest because I know of some very cool ones that would love to show their work, it’s good to have some positivity right now!

In addition to the Listserv, I just created a Facebook page to bring people together too. While I am perfectly aware that Ohio schools are down for awhile (or will be very soon), I thought this could provide some people any opportunity to “gather” if they would like to share their experiences running a, likely, seasonal system on a shoestring budget. The Facebook page is The Ohio State University Aqua-Education (@OhioAquaEducation). It would be great to see some teachers/non-profits post pictures/videos of their systems throughout the Midwest over the next few weeks of uncertainty.

I am still running/maintaining the traditional Ohio State University Aquaculture (@OhioStateAquaculture) Facebook page.

It will likely be a bit before it is developed (as universities take awhile to approve human subject research) but you should expect an e-mail to a Qualtrics survey in the next month or two that directly relates to how you and your farm have been (or haven’t been) impacted by COVID-19. Please expect this to come from either The Ohio State University, Virginia Tech, or possibly even North Central Regional Aquaculture Center.

For ANY LAND GRANT MIDWEST UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEE, please let me know if you may still be interested in a professional development aquaculture/aquaponic in-service training as part of my commitment to regional aquaculture work through NCRAC. Obviously I was interested in doing some work early summer, but I am perfectly willing to discuss doing it late summer of in the fall. While we cannot get a day down on paper, it is still an interest of mine in discussion what sort of curriculum we would like to offer Extension employees.

Also, for any Midwest university employee, we know not a lot of farmers are part of the United States Aquaculture Society. The Society is currently discussing/writing a letter to producers, encouraging them to reach out to Extension during their time of need. Please distribute the letter far and wide when you receive it as many will need to support.

Finally, please keep in mind Ohio State Extension’s Vision, Mission, and Values as you realize what needs you have: https://extension.osu.edu/about/vision-mission-values

If you have any comments for this group, as always these Listservs are a two way street! Please utilize them.

We thank you for your time and patience during this time. Be well.

Kind Regards,


Matt


[cid:DF6221B6-6BF3-4490-9FB4-06DD2F28C24E at home]


Matthew A. Smith
Program Director, Aquaculture Extension
Ph.D. student
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

Madison County Extension Office
217 Elm Street, London, OH 43140
740.956.5049 Office
256.458.0967 Cell

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/sc-aquaponics/attachments/20200317/1981de27/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: osu-emailsig.png
Type: image/png
Size: 3605 bytes
Desc: osu-emailsig.png
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/sc-aquaponics/attachments/20200317/1981de27/attachment-0001.png>