Despite many attempts at aquaculture success, Kentucky remains a state with very limited production. The last two decades had seen many farmers enter and leave the industry after a few seasons of production. In most cases, there is evidence of misjudgment with respect to the production and marketing realities and mismanagement of agricultural risks. Surviving aquaculture farmers in Kentucky were those who had successfully incorporated aquaculture into the whole-farm agricultural scene and those who had been profitable in wholesale markets. 

Socially-disadvantaged farmers (SDF) often do not participate in aquaculture because of financial barriers to entry, lack of suitable land access, lack of knowledge in fish culture, and numerous production, marketing, and business risk considerations. However, there are ways for SDF to enter niche aquaculture markets without having to incur high initial investments or high production risk.  

A Kentucky State University 1890 Land Grant Extension team started working with a successful African American farmer by incorporating a means for the farmer to sell live catfish in niche markets in Louisville.  This farmer will buy catfish from a large-scale fish producer, who can afford sell fish for $2 per pound (or less), and sell the fish later in Louisville to ethnic customers that value live fish and are willing to pay $5 per pound (or more).  The fish could be held and transported by the farmer using a holding tank and a hauling tank.  

Kentucky State University Extension personnel set up an aquaculture demonstration on the minority farmers' land, which consisted of a  covered 650-gallon holding tank system with an air pump, air diffusers, and recirculation filtration system.  For live hauling of fish, a 200-gallon insulated tank with an oxygen tank and diffuser system were used.  This system is suitable for holding 200 market-sized catfish for up to seven days.  Based on the total costs of equipment and live catfish from wholesale producers, total costs per pound would be around $2.92 per pound.  

Marketing research by the Kentucky State University team discovered that niche markets such as Hispanic and African consumers have an average willingness-to-pay of around $5.00 per pound.  This extension demonstration hopes to exemplify that with a low initial investment of only $5,039, SDFs can profit by selling live catfish in Kentucky.  Additionally, this enterprise could open marketing opportunity for other products grown by the SDFs, such as produce and poultry.