SMALL-SCALE TROUT FARMING

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Are you looking for a profitable alternative to conventional agriculture that can be practiced with very little land? Maybe your answer is ...

W hen most people think of farming, visions of fields of corn or pastures dotted With contented cows probably come to mind. And when those same folks talk about agricultural profitability, the conversation likely tends to turn to bushels per acre, tons of silage, and the continual gambles upon rain and frost. However, when MOTHER's own Rick Compton thinks about farming these days (and he's already been the usual route), his mind dwells upon flows in gallons per minute, pH, oxygen content, and conversion ratios. Why? Because since the first of June 1983, Rick's "flock" has consisted of about 1,700 pounds of rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri kamloops), which he's raised from fingerlings (130 of them to the pound) in four small man-made ponds at MOTHER's EcoVillage Research Center.

In a few weeks, when the processor arrives to pick up those fish that have reached a mature 14 ounces, we'll receive about $ 1.85 per pound for trout that cost only 60c a pound to raise. What's more, other fish will be sold to Eco-Village anglers at the standard area catch-out pond price of $1.85 per pound. Naturally, it wasn't Rick's sole intent to turn a profit (though it looks as if he'll manage it). Rather, he had hoped to demonstrate a type of aquaculture that can provide a tidy supplementary income in a small space ... or, on a larger scale—if you'll pardon the pun—provide an excellent means of making a living!

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You might be surprised to know that about 95% of the 11,000,000 pounds of rainbow trout eaten in the United States each year is raised commercially. Since 1900, when fish culture began to be recognized as a viable business, many advances have been made in breeding and growing methods ... in fact, "commercial" trout are now generally acknowledged to be at least equal (in taste and texture) to their wild counterparts. And of course, without aquaculture-in the form of our hatchery system-the meager productivity of natural waters would have resulted in trout's being a rare and expensive delicacy (if not a nearly extinct species) as a consequence of over-fishing.

Trout farming is most popular along a portion of the spring-fed Snake River in Idaho until very recently, 90% of the trout raised in the U.S. came from that spectacular 32-mile-long stretch—but it's now being practiced successfully in Arkansas, northern Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Washington, as well. There are likely other areas where the required clean, cool (but not too cold), and abundant water is available, however. Indeed, once you have a general knowledge of the necessary conditions, you may discover that your area is "ripe" for an experimental fish farm.