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In the News - August 2011
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| Catfish farmers from across Arkansas recently took part in a split pond tour conducted by the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Some are considering installing the systems to help cut operating costs. |
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| Farmers are seeing higher prices for catfish. The average price paid in June was $1.23 per pound , 44.5 cents higher per pound than the same time last year. |
Pine Bluff, Ark. – As National Catfish Month begins, many U.S. catfish producers are facing the same challenges they wrestled with in recent years: high feed costs and stiff competition from cheaper, imported fish. And, some restaurant owners are having difficulty getting hold of the long-time Southern staple as more and more U.S. catfish farmers swap their ponds for other pursuits.
But fish farmers across the state are optimistic that the U.S. farm-raised catfish industry is recovering, now that prices have risen to cover the costs of producing a safe and sustainable product in the United States. Catfish processing was down 37 percent in June 2011 compared to June 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As a result, the average price paid to catfish producers was $1.23 per pound in June, 44.5 cents higher per pound than they got at the same time last year.
“Prices are probably better than I’ve ever seen them since I’ve been in the business,” said Greg Moyer, whose family has been operating Moyer’s Fish Farm near Portland, Ark. since 2000. “Feed is higher but prices are good right now.”
Meanwhile, according to the USDA, imported fish from Cambodia, Canada, China, Indonesia, Mexico and Thailand for May 2011 totaled 16.3 million pounds, up 64 percent from the amount imported in May 2010.
That competition, plus rising feed costs, has driven some farmers out of business and has spurred others, like Moyer, to consider more cost efficient ways to operate.
“We’ve got three split pond systems up and running right now,” he said. “So far, they’re working good.”
A split pond system typically uses two sections. In one section, the fish are contained, fed, aerated and harvested. A barrier prevents fish from escaping from the containment area to the other side of the pond. During the day, oxygen levels build up in the non-fish area. Barriers are opened and water is allowed to flow through the entire system. At night, when oxygen drops, the water flow is halted allowing only the area where the fish are to be aerated. Because only the section containing fish is aerated and the area is limited in size, production may be increased and costs lowered using a split pond system versus a traditional pond system.
Moyer estimates that the system could reduce his operating expenses by a third.
“If prices go down again, maybe we’ll be prepared for it,” he said.
“The catfish industry has been through a difficult time. However, farmers are resourceful and resilient, and we are seeing more innovation and more intensive financial management on catfish farms,” said Dr. Carole Engle, director of the Aquaculture/Fisheries Center of Excellence at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. “We hope that our on-going studies on the split-pond systems and David Heikes’ efforts to develop a version that is less expensive to build will contribute to even lower costs of producing catfish.”
Heikes is Extension aquaculture specialist at UAPB.
Joey Lowery, immediate past president of the Catfish Farmers of America, has spent the past 25 years fish farming in Northeast Arkansas.
“Input costs are high but if prices stay at the current levels and you do an adequate job of producing a crop, you’ll be able to make a profit,” he said, adding that he’s thinking about making improvements to his ponds.
“With the supply situation as it is now, we’re looking into split pond systems,” Lowery said. “We feel like it could double production with very little modification to the ponds.”
In addition to high feed and fuel costs, domestic producers must deal with the impact of imported fish.
“Imports are a wild card in all of this,” he said. “We’ve been fighting for several years to be on a level playing field.”
There has been growing support for inspection and regulation of all commercial catfish species imported or grown for sale to consumers in the United States. In 2008, Congress voted to shift inspection and regulation of catfish from the Food and Drug Administration to the USDA because of safety concerns. A recent report showed that the FDA tested only one-tenth of one percent of all seafood imported into the United States for banned drugs in 2009.
“We’ve been hoping our government will put in a standard that will provide consumers with a safe product,” Lowery said, adding that he expects to be in the business for the long haul.
Buddy White started Promise Land Fish Farm near Hamburg about 15 years ago. Now, he has turned it over to his son, Chuck White. He said he has enjoyed the fish business and he, too, is optimistic about the future.
“It’s looking up,” he said. “It looks like it’s going to get better.” White said it’s a tough business and he and his son well know that “if you make anything, you got to be willing to work at it.”
August 12, 2011
By Bobbie Crockett
Extension Specialist - Communications
UAPB School of Agriculture
Fisheries and Human Sciences
(870) 575-8227
crockettb@uapb.edu
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