Aquaculture Update

The decline of tobacco production due to the tobacco buyout and the difficulty in procuring burley tobacco contracts has farm diversification at the forefront of farm owners’ priorities. The research that the London Utility Commission and Kentucky State University Division of Aquaculture are conducting in the county has added aquaculture to the list of diversification possibilities. KSU installed a raceway system into an existing catfish operation in the East Bernstadt area of Laurel County. The cooperator used CAIP Agricultural Diversification grant to install the proper infrastructure needed for the raceway system. The raceway is basically a large wire cage placed in the pond that houses the growing fish. The grower introduced 1000 trout into the raceway in November of 2017. The trout was harvested in May of 2018. The harvest yielded over 1200lbs of trout. The trout was taken to a processor where it was smoked, vacuum packed and the grower is currently selling from his home but intends to market at the Farmers Market. Harvesting of the trout in May made it possible for the grower to then fill the raceway with young catfish. A processor in West Virginia purchased 1200 pound of catfish on September 11^th.  We researched the FDA regulations and inquired about the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Mobile Processing Unit (MPU). The grower has been properly trained in Hazardous Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), a systematic preventative approach to food safety and the proper use of the MPU. The MPU has been scheduled to process the remaining @650 catfish still in the raceway next week. Then another 1000 trout will be placed back into the raceway for May of 2019. An aquaculture farm field day in association with KSU is planned for August 8, 2019.