Based on the economics of limited-resource farms in Kentucky, it is key for farmers to be connected to niche markets where customers are willing to buy unique products such as live fish and poultry.  Kentucky State University 1890 Land Grant Extension and Research team, led by Dr. Sid Dasgupta, had investigated Hispanic direct-to-consumer markets in the past and discovered lucrative opportunities in the sale of live animals.  After sharing this information with Kentucky growers, this team started to investigate other ethnic markets in the state in order to determine additional opportunities to sell live fish.  

During the winter of 2018-2019, the Kentucky State University Extension and Research team conducted a marketing study at a local church whose members were comprised mostly of African immigrants and refugees.  Live catfish were transported to the church and sold to the congregation using Becker–DeGroot–Marschak (BDM) experimental auctions; their willingness-to-pay for live catfish was determined to be approximately $5.00 per pound.  This is an acceptable price point for local small-scale producers.  

During the catfish auctions, a local African-American limited-resource farmer who had the capacity to obtain, transport, and sell live catfish, was invited to the church to observe sales, and network with African consumers to build a market for his products.  The farmer was able to connect with African consumers and distributed his business cards to several of them,