Symbiotic Aquaponic, LLC was born out of a need in our society -  a need for sustainable, responsible, and effective agriculture; a need for reconnection with our food through localized, familial, and community efforts; and a need for knowledge, understanding, and respect for the Earth and its limited natural resources.  Kaben saw that aquaponics answered so many of these needs and so he set his compass in this direction.  With years of farming experience, a strong sense of respect for the Earth, and freshly armed with a couple of graduate degrees, he set-out to make a difference in the world with aquaponics.  Within a month he'd secured the support, partnership, and technical expertise of of his younger brother Shelby.

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The first challenge was money, fresh out of graduate school Symbiotic Aquaponic was little more than a couple young entrepreneurs with more debt than capital to their names.   Kaben and Shelby quickly began exploring options, finding opportunity with their tribe, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.  The tribe enrolled the brothers in an asset-building program designed to empower individuals and businesses through investment matching with completion of the financial education program.   With a few thousand dollars to their name, the brothers did what we're so often told not to do, they went and spent it all in one place.  That place was Kiowa Public Schools.

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Kiowa Public Schools serves the rural community of Southeast Oklahoma located in the midst of sprawling grassy prairies that border the Ouachita Mountatins.  While the town of Kiowa counts approximately 700 residents, the school serves more than 300 students grades K-12.   It's a conservative community where people live modestly and value self-reliance, tradition, and family.  It was the perfect place to field-test our proof of concept for aquaponics.  Kiowa Public Schools was also the first place where we found a champion willing to take a chance with us and our novel aquaponic ideas.  With no "aquaponic" components easily accessible, the brothers sourced and re-purposed other items (farm equipment) to build the school's system. Food troughs for livestock and cement blocks created the structural components, while plumbing and system design were built into these elements. While not an aesthetic work of art, they sufficed for their purpose. The students were immediately on-board, intrigued and excited to use the system in their science classes and afterschool clubs (like Future Farmers of America); however, many others were skeptical.  As classes worked the aquaponic garden and  system began to produce, individuals across school, the staff, and community quickly embraced their new aquaponic system happy to use the lettuce for the lunchroom and sell starter plants to fundraise for clubs.  The proof of concept was a success  and so the brothers started to leverage this success to grow the company.