Alabama shrimp farmers begin harvest, consider value-added processing

By VICTOR INGE / BNI Newswire

MOSSES, Alabama—Jumbo shrimp are being grown in this small rural town in Lowndes County, a land more fitting for cows and horses.
In the 1950s, when Lee Earnest Jackson started developing the area’s first rural water system, tests revealed the salt content was high. What Jackson discovered was an 80 million year old saltwater aquifer, trapped beneath the surface of the Black Belt.
Years later his son, Lee Jackson would read of a farmer in Alabama who was growing shrimp in a pond in Hale County, and the idea was hatched. Dr. David Teichert-Coddington, owner of Green Prairie Aqua Farm in Forkland, began mentoring Lee Jackson in 2000. The next year, Jackson got started on his own.
Jackson will soon be making his sixth harvest of Pacific White shrimp, which grow to the jumbo size most seafood lovers prefer — and they’re purely organic.
There are five growers in Alabama producing shrimp in the Black Belt. Production this year will be 400,000 pounds on 80 acres of ponds, which will create $920,000, according to the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, met Auburn President Dr. Ed Richardson and a large contingent of professors and specialists who have worked with Jackson to perfect his operation, at Jackson-Bay Boy Farms to tour the facilities on Wednesday. Jesse Chappell, assistant professor and cooperative extension fisheries specialist, cast a net to take samples.
It’s time for the harvest.
“The proof is in the pudding, gentlemen,” Jackson said, showing off jumbo shrimp grown about 200 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. But these were cooked. His mother, Daisy Jackson, served a spread of shrimp skewers, grilled shrimp, shrimp salad, grilled Boston butts, chicken and all the findings, grilled by Jackson’s cousin, Ray Brown. She insisted that everyone eat, and take a plate with them. Most obliged.
The talk was about the next step for Jackson. Sen. Sanders had eaten shrimp and grits at the farm before. He knew what to expect.
“It’s important to take what you have, to make what you need,” Sanders said, referring to Jackson taking what could have been considered a setback and turning it into an opportunity.
In Lowndes County, a rural setting with 9 percent unemployment — estimated to be higher than 20 percent in Mosses — the development of a processing plant could be the next step. Though only seasonal, the addition of any jobs for several months out of the year would be welcome, said Jackson.
Jackson, the first and only African American shrimp grower in the country, serves as vice president of the newly incorporated Alabama Inland Shrimp Producer’s Association. It was founded through a grant from State Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, to promote the newly emerging industry. Teichert-Coddington serves a president of the association.
Dr. David B. Rouse, Auburn department head of fisheries and allied aquacultures, works to improve grower’s conditions.
“Any type of processor would be a good venture here,” he said. “It would require some extra labor.”
Richardson was impressed with the work of his staff, who have studied and taught graduate studies using Jackson’s farm. Rouse said they are even researching uses for the discarded heads and shells, which would be a byproduct of a processor.
“The product that’s organic. That’s going to sell,” Richardson said. “We’re going to have to develop some type of processor here.”
Another idea Auburn is experimenting with is growing flounder, pompano and redfish.
“The flounder can handle cooler temperatures,” Rouse said.
The shrimp have proven to be viable. Chappell is excited about Jackson’s upcoming harvest. It’s been perfected since the first and even second years — even the shrimp’s introduction to the pond in early June.
“Before we put them in we have to put them through an acclimation process. We had a nursery set up here,” Chappell said. “When we harvest we have to be just as careful not to stress the shrimp. We have to bring the water down slowly, which takes about a day or two. We want them to swim with the water.”
For Jackson, his focus is on getting the “value added” aspects of the industry. He said his economies of scale call for additional ponds and the ability to process the shrimp on-site.
“It would require some extra labor,” Jackson said. “And that means it could have an economic impact. I’m calling on all the champions of economic development in the Black Belt to assist us in getting it done.”

Source:
The Demopolis Times