Menominee Nation Aquaponics (College of Menominee Nation / SUSHI Project)

Summary

Menominee Nation aquaponics centers on the College of Menominee Nation (CMN, a 1994 Tribal land-grant college in Keshena, Wisconsin) and its Sustainable Development Institute (SDI). CMN operates an aquaponics greenhouse on campus — raising fish such as bluegill and bass alongside leafy produce — that is open to community members, hosts a weekly farmer's market, and serves as a land-based education site. The flagship expansion is a pilot aquaponics program developed through the SUSHI project ("Sustainable Use of a Safe Hemp Ingredient"), a ~$10 million USDA NIFA-funded, HBCU-led effort at Central State University (project 1027520) in which CMN is the Tribal College partner. The project documents goals including: financial start-up and training support for new Tribal aquaculture producers, extension and outreach for consumers, fish and produce distributions, aquaculture certificate programs, youth extension programming, and scholarships/mentorship for CMN graduates continuing to agriculture bachelor's degrees. A complementary "Farm-to-Fork" study protocol describes a new extension aquaponics facility raising fish and culturally relevant produce, with field days, Native Chef demonstrations, workforce training, and start-up funds over four years. The initiative connects aquaponics explicitly to Menominee food sovereignty and the Nation's long tradition of sustainable land stewardship.

Guiding Principles

Food Sovereignty: The program's stated aim is to expand the Menominee Nation's ability to feed itself — growing fish and culturally relevant produce and enabling Tribal members to become producers rather than consumers of an imported food system.
Decolonizing Education: Education happens through a Tribal College grounded in Menominee values and the SDI Model of Sustainability; programming is land-based and culturally framed rather than transplanted from settler institutions.
Community Self-Sufficiency: Start-up funding, workforce training, and certificate pathways are designed to seed independent Tribal producers and keep value circulating on the reservation.
Youth Empowerment: Extension programming targets youth interest in agriculture, and scholarship/mentorship pipelines move CMN students toward agriculture degrees.

Learning Outcomes & Transferable Skills

Participants build Food Production skills across fish and plant culture, applied Water Chemistry for recirculating systems, and Entrepreneurship through start-up training and producer support. The CMN greenhouse context also develops Community Organizing experience (farmer's markets, distributions, field days) and Sustainability Literacy tied to Menominee stewardship traditions. Certificate-level training transfers to employment in aquaculture, tribal food programs, and extension work.

How to Replicate or Build On It

Start with the USDA NIFA project record (portal.nifa.usda.gov, project 1027520) for objectives, outputs, and partner structure, and CMN's Sustainable Development Institute pages (menominee.edu) for the Indigenous food sovereignty framing.
Contact CMN SDI / Department of Continuing Education about greenhouse visits, workshops, and the aquaponics curriculum being developed for pre-college and extension audiences.
The replicable pattern: pair a tribal/land-grant college greenhouse with (a) community access and markets, (b) producer start-up funds, (c) certificate training, and (d) scholarship pipelines to partner universities.
Parallel Indigenous models: MALAMA Backyard Aquaponics for Native Hawaiian Families.

Considerations & Constraints

Cost: Participation is free/subsidized via federal grants (~$10M multi-institution SUSHI award); replication needs comparable grant funding.
Skill Level: Entry-level community workshops through certificate-level college training — a ladder from Beginner upward.
Space/Climate: Greenhouse-based in Wisconsin's cold climate; heating and season extension are essential, unlike tropical island programs.
Tools Required: Greenhouse aquaponics infrastructure (tanks, grow beds, pumps, heating); research-grade monitoring at the college scale.
Ongoing Maintenance: Year-round greenhouse operation with daily fish care; staffing continuity has been a documented challenge under funding uncertainty.
Access Barriers: Program benefits are oriented to Menominee and partner Tribal members in Wisconsin; federal funding cuts to tribal colleges create sustainability risk; no standalone public build manual identified.

Prerequisites

None for community participation; certificate pathways assume basic secondary education. See MALAMA Backyard Aquaponics for Native Hawaiian Families for a parallel entry-level Indigenous model.

Primary Source

USDA NIFA CRIS project record 1027520 (SUSHI / CMN pilot aquaponics program): https://portal.nifa.usda.gov/web/crisprojectpages/1027520.html