Tobacco Farmer Tries Shrimp

Source from:  timesdispatch.com The Associated Press Dec 29, 2005  12/30/2005

Crop-diversification project becomes a huge success and inspires other alternatives ROCKY MOUNT Tobacco farmer Johnny Angell diversified this spring, adding two ponds to his 1,000-acre farm and stocking them with Malaysian freshwater shrimp. In October, he harvested and sold more than 1,100 pounds of the shellfish to hundreds of customers. "We had folks waiting five or six hours for shrimp," Angell said. "They hung out all day and watched us drain the pond, like it was a circus." Based on that success, he's considering building two more ponds this winter, and his experiment is attracting attention in Virginia farm circles. Brian Nerrie is an aquaculture specialist and professor at Virginia State University near Petersburg who worked with Angell on the shrimp project. "Anytime someone does something the first time, any positive outcome is real good," Nerrie said. "The major thing that has resulted is just the interest level by other tobacco farmers to look at, if not freshwater shrimp, then other types of alternative crops." One man from Pittsylvania County, for instance, is considering growing freshwater shrimp from their larval stage to mosquito size. He'll then sell them to farmers like Angell, who grow them to eating size. Marketing their landlocked shellfish will be one of the main challenges for shrimp farmers, Nerrie said. Angell's got some ideas to improve sales next year. He may, for example, hold a sale on a Friday before a Virginia Tech home game -- a shrimp farm-to-tailgate promotion. Aside from marketing, Angell said he wants to focus on two other improvements next year. One is water filtering. The other is herons who feast on his shrimp. He said he'll use a noise device or net around the pond perimeters to discourage herons. "Every time I went to the ponds, there was a heron or two standing there, and I don't think they were there for a suntan," Angell said. "I don't mind them eating the bream and small frogs, but I don't know about $7-a-pound shrimp." Along with the shrimp, Angell tried another new crop this year: burley tobacco. Before this year, he'd only grown flue-cured tobacco, as dictated by the defunct quota system that guaranteed tobacco farmers could sell what they grew. This year, the first without quotas, Angell built a barn exclusively for curing burley tobacco. Angell's diversification is intended to allow him and his wife, Sharon, to continue living a rural lifestyle. Enditem