Input costs on the rise while prices have decreased
Despite advances in production technology that have allowed catfish farmers to produce more fish per acre of pond, the cost of all the inputs like feed and equipment are up and the prices are down.
“I would say this is a difficult time for all production agriculture in the country,” says Roger Barlow, Executive Vice President of Catfish Farmers of America. “I’ve been involved in the catfish world for 22 years, and this is one of the more difficult years I have seen. The income for growers is less than expenses. There are a lot of reasons for that. Interest rates are up at banks. Costs for feed and equipment are up. Fish imports from Vietnam continue to plague our industry with products that are not just drastically cheaper, but also of inferior quality. This is a fragile economy for our catfish growers. Consumers are seeing increased prices. Demand is still strong for catfish, but consumer food costs are elevated across the board.”
Currently about 320 million pounds a year of live weight catfish are sold per year. People want to buy American so they know where their food is coming from.
“When you buy cheap, you get cheap,” says Barlow. “People want quality and a product they can believe in.”
Jimmy Avery, Ph.D., Extension Professor and Aquaculture Leader, agrees that imports are a continuing problem. Avery says it is important that Vietnamese basa and tra not be labeled as catfish and instead be called their scientific/common name.
Avery says acreage continues to decline in the three major producing states of Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi. He says inventory in ponds and processor’s freezers is going down, which may lead to slightly higher pond bank prices.
“Small farms continue to struggle with saving equity as they exit the business,” says Avery.
Jeremy Robbins, Vice President of The Catfish Institute, says because everything in the grocery store has gone up in price, people are having to make difficult decisions about how to feed their families.
“Prices at grocery stores and restaurants for premium products like U.S. farm-raised catfish are at peak levels even though farmers are only getting about $1 a pound for the past three years compared to $1.30 a pound before,” says Robbins. “The cost of production is well beyond that.”
Robbins says the industry is surviving because farmers are working smarter with better production techniques. At its peak in 2001, about 190,000 acres of ponds were being used to grow catfish. Now it is down 42,000 acres.
“Although our acreage has been declining a little bit each year, industry production has been very stable,” says Robbins. “There are so many diseases that are no longer a problem due to the research done by Mississippi State University and all of our fellow land grant institutions in neighboring states. We have to now think about the next hurdle facing our farmers. These research scientists and extension agents are absolutely essential to the success of the catfish industry.”
Barlow says the catfish research conducted over the past several decades is second to none and has helped keep catfish farmers afloat.
“We have the most efficient producers using every scientific breakthrough that our researchers have come up with in regard to feeding, seining, bird patrolling and preventing diseases,” says Barlow. “The adoption of research recommendations has been paramount in keeping our industry in our business. We think research for the sake of research is not necessary; research for commercialization is very necessary. We would hate to see any catfish research funding levels decreased.”
Barlow says the industry’s national affairs arm, Catfish Farmers of America, has to keep elected officials informed so they know the industry’s issues.
“We are a small industry,” says Barlow. “We have to keep the industry’s needs in front of our legislators. All of our elected officials in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana advocate and support catfish growers. When we make Hill visits in D.C., they are very receptive to the catfish industry and for that we are most appreciative.”
Ganesh Kumar, Ph.D., Associate Research Aquaculture Professor at MSU, says while much progress has been made, one of the biggest remaining problems in catfish production is off flavor.
“There has been not much technological progress in completely tackling off flavor issues on catfish farms,” says Kumar. “We should continue to have copper sulfate and diuron for judicious management of off flavor. We had a big scare this past year about those being taken off the market before the administration changed. Science backed evidence and safety insights have been provided from MSU. Delta Council has a big role in helping us keep these two critical treatments. They have made sure the voices of the catfish producers have been heard properly.”
Kumar highlighted that continued technological processes in the catfish industry helped productivity. Production technologies such as split ponds and intensively aerated ponds help producers gain production efficiency. Another advance is hybrid catfish, a cross between male blue catfish and female channel catfish that shows hybrid vigor by consuming more food and growing faster.
Automated oxygen monitoring systems are a lot of help, as is vaccination. ESC is a disease that was very prevalent but the MSU vaccine adopted in the industry has greatly reduced the incidence.
“One of the biggest problems in U.S. aquaculture is overregulation,” says Kumar. “Very effective vaccines never see the light of day because it takes ten years to get a vaccine approved. So, disease continues to be the primary production loss issue followed by fish losses to birds. Cormorants are the biggest predator of catfish followed by pelicans. Great Egrets can also devastate catfish ponds by poaching large quantities of fingerlings. They are all protected by the Migratory Bird Act of 1918. These were laws put in place more than 100 years ago without understanding the negative impact it would have in the future, especially on American fish farming.
“That is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. Otherwise, our producers will incur continued heavy losses from public resources that are protected. Catfish farmers incur over $300/acre (in 2021) in just running birds off their levees. The costs of labor, truck, levee repair and fuel for this purpose is all non-productive on farms, thus incurring large sunk cost. There should be government compensation for the money spent by farmers on non-lethal activities surrounding the bird issue. That will be a big help to these producers. I certainly believe our catfish farmers are being heard by their congressional delegates.”
Kumar argues that over emphasis of environmental protections puts U.S. farmers at a disadvantage with foreign competitors.
“The need for food security is paramount,” he says. “There should be a logical way for people to farm. If farmers can’t farm, we don’t have quality fish. It is a dangerous precedent to depend more and more on imported fish as it is a food-security issue. Catfish fills a major gap. It is the largest domestic aquaculture industry in the country and Mississippi is the largest producer in the U.S.”
Total regulatory costs of the U.S. catfish industry are estimated at $45 million annually. Farmers have actually lost a lot of tools that they had before.
“These costs have reduced the profit margins considerably over the years,” says Kumar. “Yet the resilience of catfish growers is tremendous. Pragmatic laws and regulations are what we need, not those that are redundant and burdensome on farms. Every law should come with a sunset clause because farming practices, environment, and technologies are evolving.
“Policies and regulations allowing more domestic aquaculture production allows for more sustainable production, improved economic activity in rural regions, reduction of trade deficit and reduction of unsustainable production in other countries. U.S. aquaculture farms alone contribute about $4 billion annually to the economy and generate about 23,000 jobs annually.”
Catfish growers are like “one big family”
Mike McCall, who was editor of The Catfish Journal for thirty-five years before retiring earlier this year, says the 21st century has been a real challenge for the U.S. catfish farming industry.
“A steady downsizing amid a wave of imported fish from Asia has reduced industry acreage by more than half,” says McCall. “The slide leveled off around 2012, as producers and processors enjoyed improved operations for a few years. But challenges remain with escalating costs, labor shortages and ever-present competition from imports and other proteins.”
McCall says unlike the heady days of the 1980s and 1990s, today nearly all processing companies are family owned, with second or third generations actively involved in farming and marketing.
“Understandably, they all hold dear to their history of survival,” says McCall, who is author of the book Catfish Days: From Belzoni to the Big Apple. “The industry has matured, and is more efficient and better equipped to meet challenges in farming, processing and marketing. Recently, markets have been soft and competition among the players has been strong as prices weakened.”
Going forward, he sees the possibility of some consolidation in the future. But he anticipated that twenty years ago and it didn’t happen.
“Industry members often refer to themselves as being part of one big family,” says McCall. “In many ways they are tough, seasoned, proud, respectful—a special breed. Recent trends are encouraging. Young and old love their fried, blackened, broiled, and grilled catfish. I certainly do.”