Shrimp farming

[LeeB]

Traveling to places for work where they like to blow people and planes up is starting to get a litle old. Thinking about shrimp farming. Anyone have experiance with this?

[sandhills]

Can't say I do Lee, but I believe you about the traveling, I don't like to leave even for a few days.  You might try fishpharmer I'd bet he'll know something about it or know someone who does.

[Raider Bill]

Everything you need to know about shrimping can be seen watching Forrest Gump :D

We used to throw cat-food in the water at night and used nets.

[fishpharmer]

Lee,

Check this out  http://msucares.com/aquaculture/prawns/index.html

[Mooseherder]

The first time I was exposed to Shrimp aquaculture was about 20 years ago at the Harbor Branch in Fort Pierce.
I got to tour the facilities while I was teaching a Food safety class for Company associates in one of their conference rooms we had booked for a couple weeks.  They had folks from all over the world coming for the aquaculture instruction.
My experience with domestic Shrimp farming at work was a couple of false starts and the Florida Farms not being able to keep up with demand.  I mean not even come close to being able to furnish any product on a consistent basis.  The last owner we dealt with had made some big promises but he wasn't able to produce 1% of the product that was needed.  There was a big disconnect with his production manager I guess.  Most of the Farmed shrimp sold here are from, Thailand and Indonesia.  It's really big, big business and not without it's problems.  I haven't been involved the last 5 months but Shrimp were experiencing supply issues with high mortality rates and also black spot disease.
Aquaculture is the present and the future.  Farmed Salmon, Tilapia and Catfish account for close to 90% of the Fillet Market.  The rest is wild and unsustainable with demand increasing evermore with people touting the health benefits and as third world countries rise their standard of living.

[Claybraker]

Used to be a big business on the Pacific coast of Honduras. I know Con Agra was a player, so it might take some deep pockets for the economy of scale.

[sandhills]

Any possible way it could be a niche market, selling just to local restaurants, grocery stores and such?  I'd imagine they'd have to be inspected first along with the growing facilities?

[Mooseherder]

A definite yes to local markets.

[LeeB]

Local markets would definitely be my starting point. Who knows how far it will go. everything I've read so far, which admittedly not much, says the same thing as Mooseherder in that the farmers out there can in no way keep up with demand. I'm really surprised someone like Tyson hasn't gotten into the game.

[21incher]

If you need a tester for your shrimp, I will volunteer.

[LeeB]

The drive might make you loose your taste for them.  :D

[fishpharmer]

Shrimp farming, whether its saltwater or freshwater is primarily limited by water temeperatures in the US.  Below ~60 degrees F mortalities rise.   South FL, South TX and HI are the only states that have a chance of year round production.  The last time I checked, freshwater prawns have successfully been cultured in most of the Southern states during the summer months.  Mostly it is just small numbers of breeding stock that is overwintered indoors.  Freshwater prawns are suprisingly territorial in nature which makes highly intensive culture difficult.  Essentially you stock babies in May and harvest in September. 

Saltwater shrimp I know little about, except most cultured species generally have same temperature limitations.  There is at least one place in AL that fills ponds from a saltwater aquifer for shrimp culture.  I have heard of production in AR and TX in locations with saltwater aquifers. 

Thats it, most all I know about shrimp culture.  If you want to talk about catfish or bass give me a call ;) :D

[drobertson]

I saw a piece on the local news, springfield, Mo,  somewhere in this area is a farm, the ole boy and his sons got above ground pools and converted a turkey farm barn into raising shrimp,  big market, thought about it as well,  it just takes a few years to get it going from what I understood from the report.  Locals are lined up and there is a wait list as well as shipping, so yes I believe there is a way to make it work,

[fishpharmer]

drobertson, thats interesting.  I know a fella that overwinters broodstock shrimp in greenhouses.  But raises lil ones in ponds during summer. 

[Ianab]

Local place uses waste hot water from a geothermal power plant to grow tropical prawns all year round. They are set up more as a tourist attraction, giving tours, and letting you fish for prawns ( you get to keep what you catch)

http://www.hukaprawnpark.co.nz/

[LeeB]

I saw the same news article that drobertson did and that is what sparked my interest. The AR ag commission doesn't seem to think to highly of it and makes no mention at all of year round production in indoor containers. From what I read last night they think the risks out way the possible profits.

[Ron Wenrich]

When I was doing biomass a number of years ago, we always looked for a way of using our trash steam to qualify for co-gen.  The one plant that we located used the steam to cook tomatoes.  Biomass has largely been replaced with cheap natural gas.  The plants are smaller, and require less labor, since the energy source is piped in and not delivered by trucks.  Seems like that might be a source of heat if you could locate close to one. 

[Farmerjw]

LeeB, I am providing a web address of a local shrimp farm in our county here in North Western Indiana.  He was one of my Sunday School kids years and years ago.  I just visited this farm at the start of school in Sept..  His story and background are all on his website, pretty sure he would be willing to talk with you if you contact him.  Here it is:   http://www.hoosiershrimpfarm.com

[fishpharmer]

Farmerjw, nice website.  I have not kept up with the indoor aquaculture, outstanding to read that it has potential for economic viability. 

[Roxie]

Wow!  The link supplied by Farmerjw answers your question.  To think they got into it because of his allergies and vision problems! 

If you go check them out, don't take over 10 people with you though, they'll charge you a dollar a head.   :D

[Farmerjw]

Wow!  The link supplied by Farmerjw answers your question.  To think they got into it because of his allergies and vision problems! 

If you go check them out, don't take over 10 people with you though, they'll charge you a dollar a head.   :D

We took 5 classes of Intro to Ag students there in one day.  They didn't charge us.  They like the word of mouth advertisement.  I think it alleviates the "salesman" problem, where you don't get anything done in a day due to everyone being out and about and just stopping by. 

[firecord]

There was a guy in north louisiana farming shrimp.   Ida if I remember. But I think he quit after a couple of years if I remember right.   

[yukon cornelius]

I saw a piece on the local news, springfield, Mo,  somewhere in this area is a farm, the ole boy and his sons got above ground pools and converted a turkey farm barn into raising shrimp,  big market, thought about it as well,  it just takes a few years to get it going from what I understood from the report.  Locals are lined up and there is a wait list as well as shipping, so yes I believe there is a way to make it work,

I was going to post the same. We saw that also. My wife is really interested. I would say I would eat all the proffit. I think it would be a really neat venture

[LeeB]

We're semi looking for an existing building to get started in. We have plenty of land to put one but think an existing space may be more feasible. No commitment to this yet, just doing the homework. I'm not at all willing to throw away my retirement money on something that won't pan out. Other than retirement money, I do need a tax shelter for the next 10 years or so and investment in a small business may be just the ticket and a way to provide an even better retirement fund.

[Ron Wenrich]

We had a guy that went out of the chicken business and rented out his buildings to different businesses.  He divided it into sections.  If you could find something like that, it would be good.  Wide open spaces.  I imagine rent would offset the cost of a building, depending on scale of the business.