November 9, 2013 — Mark and Jeff Nelson have reeled in and landed an unlikely new opportunity on their grain and hog operation in Webster City, Iowa: fish farming.
The two cousins first started kicking around the idea of getting into aquaculture when profits in the pork industry turned soft and several of their sow farrowing barns sat empty.
That was three years ago. Today, their aquaculture enterprise, Iowa’s First, is netting interest from other farmers and strong demand from customers.
"We think there’s a really good future in aquaculture, given the growing demand globally for food," Jeff says.
The Nelsons produce hybrid striped bass for high-end restaurants in the Midwest, using opposing flows technology, a system that creates a continual current and oxygen in their eighteen 10,000-gal. tanks. The cousins are in the process of transitioning their production to a different fish species, barramundi, also called Asian sea bass, which is native to Australia.
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