These are the webinar slides for "Starting A Commercial Aquaponics Farm"- a webinar by Dr. Nate Storey of Bright Agrotech. Find the entire recorded webinar here: http://bit.ly/1dsSXr3

1. “So You’re Ready To Go Commercial?”
Starting a Commercial Aquaponics Farm
Sponsored by Bright Agrotech
www.brightagrotech.com

2. Webinar Overview
1. Understanding your markets
!
2. What products to grow and how to grow them
!
3. Business Plan and Marketing Strategy- Base
your production plan and schedule on this
!
4. Mistakes to Avoid

3. Dr. Nate Storey
& Bright Agrotech

4. 1
Understanding Your Market
r ke ts
#1) M a
t i t i ve .
c om p e
a re
You are not an island- you exist in a competitive landscape

5. What works in Excel will not always work in real life.
Remember:
!
!
Consumers are not well educated on products and are very price sensitive.
!
The guy with the smallest margins at the same pricing will typically lose.
22
21
17
11
6
0
15
11
14
9

6. You have more competition than you think…
Competitors Include…
!
➡ Big producers,
➡ small producers,
➡ producers of substitutions

7. t wi
Wh a
a rt ?
o u ap
se t y
ll
Education, appearance, quality, price, marketing, etc.
Remember:
Must be cost effective (not cheap necessarily) to implement
!
“Aquaponic” is typically not good enough.

8. Markets Are Unique
Every market is different and wants different
things, but everyone wants more value/$
Regional differences,
income differences,
ethnic and religious
differences,
age differences,
cultural and social
differences, etc.
These differences decide what type of “niche” market you should be looking at.

9. Markets tend to either be general or niche.
If you’re just beginning, you’ll most likely be
operating in a niche or specialized market
Remember:
• Niche markets have hurdles to entry for large firms
• Niche markets tend to offer higher prices
• Niche markets have a ceiling- how do you scale out of them?

10. G e ne ra l m
c om p e t i t i ve
e t s a re v e r y
ar k
* Typically high volume,
low margin- especially in
the produce market
t he se
f f o rd t o c om p e te in r m a k e
n’t a
Mo s t li k e ly, yo u c a - yo u mus t b e dis t in c t o
te r ms
o t h.
m a r k e t s, o n t h e ir
n d a rd p r ic ing , o r b
sta
b e t te r m a rg in s at
L i ve S a le s H e
lp s C omme rc
ia l G ro we rs C
om p e te !

11. Do Your Market Research!
Q ue s t io n s To As k :
-
are th ere in
w m any groc er y st ores
Ho
se ll? Ho w
- What do th ey
yo ur area?
much?
h
Will th ey do busi ne ss w it
-
lo ca l growers?
ey pay?
- What w ill th
m argi ns?
What are th ei r ex pe cted
te rms?
What are th ei r paymen t
-
iremen ts?
t are th ei r in su ra nc e re qu
- Wha
are th ere?
t ot he r com pl ia nc e co st s
- Wha
of ques tions *
for co mplete list
ail
* See fo llow up em

12. Place Matters!
Bigger populations represent more niche and market opportunities!

13. 2
What Products To Grow
&
How To Grow Them

14. Knowing your market allows you to pick potential
product wisely using this series of questions:
m y m a r k e ts?
p ro duc ts w il l se ll in
• Wh at
s lo c a ll y?
th e la rge s t v o lume
do
• Wh at p ro duc ts
c a n I g ro w ?
• Wh at p ro duc ts
• Wh ich o f
th
f a s te s t re t u
th em?
• H o w w il l I g ro w
c o s t, h igh p r
• Wh at te ch n
(Th e s e w il l b
a jo r it y
o r k b e s t fo r th e m
iq ue w il l w
o f th e se p ro duc
c anno t be
ro duc ts th at
ts (ge t r id o f th e p
K .I .S .S .
it h th is te ch n iq ue )
g ro w n w
a n d t h e lo we
e s e p ro duc t s
r n o n in ve s t
t radit io n a l m
• Exc e p t io n :
p 3-5 c ro p s a
e a n d m in im
w it h t h e b e s
s t inh e re n t r
de p e n de n t.)
• Ch o ose t h
e to
me n t (f a s t g
ic e ), h igh v a lu
e yo u r c ro p s
re p re s e n t t h
ar ke ts
C SA b us ine s
s mo de ls
ro w t h, lo w
a l r is k?
t m a rg in s
is k a n d is te c
nd s t a rt t h e
e be s t and
h n iq ue
re f o r

15. Please, please, please. . .
don’t start with tomatoes!
Do not unnecessarily complicate your life from the start!
What you choose will influence how fast you see returns.
!
!
Know which crops are hard to grow!

16. 3
Business Plan &
Marketing Strategy

17. ’re g o i ng
h o w yo u
d
gro w a n
e c ific s .
o
t io n a l sp
o u ne e d t
w h at y
nd ope ra
a
yo u k n o w u t t h e g ro w i ng
Once
, fig u re o
t
o gro w i
t
This is 10% of putting
together a business!

18. Questions To Ask Yourself
1.How much room will you need to produce the type of crops using the
chosen technique?
!
2.How much will the greenhouse/growing space, infrastructure,
utilities, equipment, etc. cost?
!
3.What will be the operational costs? (Electricity, gas, salaries,
distribution, maintenance,
!
4.How do these costs scale?
!
5.Are there unnecessary costs?
Note: Not all costs are bad. Consider the costs that allow fast ROI and
high margin “good,” and costs that don’t represent this “bad.”
Also, some costs are simply unavoidable, but still be critical in approaching
cost. Not all costs are necessary.

19. nd
a
lan y
gP
t in
eg
ke
ar
rat
St
M
da
i ng
uil
et
B
rk
a
aM
ve
Ha
(Th e o t h
e r 90%
o f s t a rt
i ng a b u
s i ne s s! )

20. yo u r p ro duc t ?
o w w i l l yo u s e l l
H
w ing .
f o re yo u s t a rt g ro
o u ld s t a rt b e
o u r M a r k e t ing sh
Y
o duc e .
o u w il l s e ll yo u r p r
s e ll it.
wy
u k n o w e xac t ly h o
n g ro w if yo u c a n’t
g b e f o re yo
much yo u c a
u d a re s t a rt g ro w in
e s n’t m at te r h o w
It do
Do n’t yo
w h at t h e m a r k e t in
Kno w
o s, la
G ra ph ic de s ig n, lo g
lo o k li k e a n d c o s t.
g m ate r ia ls w il l
b e ls, e tc .
s e lf
D if f e re n t iate yo u r
K n o w w h at
c om p l i a n c e h
u rd le s t h e re
a re t o s e l l i ng
c c e s s ing a m ix t u re
d a s t r a te g y f o r a
B u il
y s to re s, C SAs)
a r k e ts (e x . G ro ce r
! - Re li able M
.
o f…
re li a ble b u y
n ts a re n’t a lways
e ts (e x . re s tau ra
a n d re li a ble .)
H igh m a rg in m a r k
As a re h igh m a rg in
igh m a rg in . C S
th e y’re t y p ic a ll y h
a lways re a ll y
e r ’s m a r k e ts a re n’t is ibil it y m a r k e ts
r k e ts (e x . Fa r m
- H igh v is ibil it y m a ir ly u n re li a ble , b u t se r ve a s h igh -v
fa
p rofita ble a n d a re
yo u r p ro duc t. )
uci ng c us tome rs to
fo r in t ro d
K n o w h o w yo u’re g
o ing t o dis t r ib u te t
o t he se m ar ke ts
!
Wil l yo u do it
yo u rs e lf (p re
f e ra ble f o r lo
c a l s a le s ) ?
Wil l yo u us e
a dis t r ib u t o r
?

21. Build a Business Plan…
w?
Wh at w il l yo u g ro
m w il l yo u s e ll i t ?
ho
w, w h e re a n d t o w
- Ho
?
w il l i t c o s t t o g ro w
- H o w much
il l yo u m a k e o n i t ?
- H o w much w
b u ilding c a le n d a r
B u ild a de s ig n /
-
…to document everything.

22. 4
Mistakes To Avoid

23. Mistakes To Avoid
1. Never forget that the market is competitive.
2. Don’t go aquaponic just because you like the idea of it.
Rainbows and Unicorns don’t pay the bills.
3. Don’t go too big too fast.
Figure out what the minimum viable size is and then go slightly larger.
4. Please don’t go with raft production.
You can make money with rafts in some markets, but these are rare.
5. Don’t take the Local Foods craze for granted.
6. Read the Top 10 Mistakes download on the website
for more thoughts and information.

24. So, are you ready to go commercial?
!
If you’re interested in ZipGrow towers, talk
with us about our grower’s support program!
!
LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE

25. The Bright Agrotech Team
Chris
Pau l
Q ue
s t io
n s?
Dr. Nate Storey
Noah