Editor’s note
The following abstract describes a publication that is only available as a downloadable PDF.
Introduction
Site visits were made to a selected group of aquaculture producers within the North Central region of the United States for the purpose of discussing various aspects of their aquaculture production business, to gain information on their marketing strategies and overall business model, and to learn about their successful methods for producing high-value aquaculture products. The purpose of this publication is to share this information with others within the North Central region as a model for developing a successful aquaculture enterprise.
This project is one aspect of a recently funded U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) North Central Regional Aquaculture grant entitled, “Advancing Aquaculture Production within the Midwestern Region.” One of the objectives of this project was to learn about the various aspects required for expanding aquaculture in the Midwest by exploring how to design efficient and cost-effective production systems and how to expand aquaculture sales and increase profitability.
The project had these additional objectives:
- Summarize trends and outlook for U.S. and Midwestern aquaculture
- Conduct a needs assessment of the aquaculture industry
- Conduct a survey of aquaculture consumer preferences
- Provide business models and enterprise budgets for aquaculture operations
- Develop and publish aquaculture educational and outreach materials for use by producers as well as for those interested in investing in an aquaculture enterprise. These educational materials will also provide information to consumers on the sustainability of U.S. aquaculture production as opposed to imported seafood practices and products.
Site visit summaries
Ten operating aquaculture farms were visited in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan. These sites included operations producing and selling ornamental fish, largemouth bass, barramundi, yellow perch, trout, tilapia, marine shrimp and baitfish. The farmers sold both processed and unprocessed products to retail and wholesale markets, and fish and shrimp to individuals for stocking ponds and recirculating aquaculture systems.
During the site visits, the growers were asked what were their greatest successes, challenges or potentials. These were their answers:
- Improvements in software to track pond fish stocks and sales have played an important role in ornamental fish production and sales profitability.
- The main challenge in largemouth bass production is ensuring farm profitability.
- Knowledge supporting barramundi fish farming comes more from farm experience than meetings and fish farm tours.
- A major challenge yellow perch farmers face is obtaining high-quality, cost-effective feed supply.
- A major challenge for marine shrimp production is ensuring a high survival rate and providing a reliable source of shrimp postlarvae (PLs) for stocking.
- Successful fish farmers must be passionate about raising fish because of the long hours and effort required.
- A major challenge for selling tilapia fillets is import price competition and the need to sell to ethnic fish markets in the U.S.
- A promising aquaculture candidate to replace yellow perch is native bluegill sunfish.
- A major challenge for trout farmers is addressing and correcting misinformation about fish farming.
- The baitfish industry would benefit from leadership to help influence state and federal regulatory policies. The detailed site visits summaries are provided in this report.
Contents
- Introduction
- Ozark Fisheries Inc
- Big House Fish Farm
- Hanilu Farms
- Millcreek Perch Farm LLC
- RDM Shrimp
- Rushing Waters Fisheries
- Tippco Fish Inc
- Superior Aquaculture LLC
- Freshwater Farms of Ohio
- Gollon Brothers Wholesale Live Bait Inc
Pages
- 36