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USDA catfish purchase could help industryPINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP)--A planned $5 million government purchase of catfish for school lunch and food assistance programs is expected to give a boost to the aquaculture industry, officials said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will soon begin accepting bids for the domestic catfish from processors, mainly in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. The USDA announced the purchase plan Sept. 30. "Even if Arkansas processors don't get bids, it will help by raising demand for catfish. Anything that increases the sales in catfish will help farmers," said Carole Engle, chair of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff's Aquaculture/Fisheries Department. Ted McNulty, Arkansas Department of Agriculture's director of aquaculture, said the purchase should not have a significant effect on prices. He also said any increase in catfish sales would generally benefit the industry. "It really won't remove enough surplus from the market to affect the prices much," he said. About 10 years ago, McNulty said, larger government catfish purchases did have a significant demand impact. Today's market, however, has been affected by a flooding of foreign catfish and similar fish that has caused prices to drop greatly. Engle said the distribution could win over some people who have never eaten catfish and create new customers. She said past government purchases of salmon have had an effect of making the fish a more widely consumed food. McNulty said some processors will not be interested in selling to the USDA since price per pound is driven so low in mass bid purchases. He said farmers continue to struggle with high input costs and low catfish prices, though dropping commodity prices are bringing some relief in the form of lower feed prices. Farmers are getting about 82 cents per pound for their fish, and some have converted their ponds to land for row crops. He also said some farmers have had trouble getting loans. That's more of a problem for aquaculturists because catfish farming requires two to three times more capital than producing row crops. Catfish farmers are more vulnerable to feed costs than those who raise other animals. Where the cost of feed represents about one-third of the cost of raising hogs and cattle, feeding is half the cost of growing catfish. 11/3/08 Date: 10/30/08 Advertisement
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