Delta Catfish Farmers at the Crossroads
Or, 'I Believe They're Sinking Down'
Catfish farming, which was one of the few bright spots in the Mississippi Delta economy, is grinding to a halt at an alarming pace, according to the New York Times. It is a victim of the rapid rise in feed costs; corn and soybean prices have tripled in the last two years. Catfish farmers simply cannot afford to buy food for their fish and are draining their ponds.
“It’s a dead business,” said John Dillard, who pioneered the commercial farming of catfish in the late 1960s. Last year Dillard & Company raised 11 million fish. Next year it will raise none. People can eat imported fish, Mr. Dillard said, just as they use imported oil.
As for his 55 employees? "Those jobs are gone."
An industry that at one point provided 10,000 jobs in the hard-luck Delta region is now reduced to minnow status.
Having spent some time in the Delta in the last year, I can tell you it is one of the most interesting areas of the country socioeconomically and culturally. As a blues fan, I was thrilled to visit Robert Johnson's grave. As a serious eater, I will tell you there's no better place to eat soul food, steak, tamales, onion rings, and broiled pompano than the Mississippi Delta. The tamales at Doe's and everywhere else on the Delta tamale trail, the pompano at Lusco's, the onion rings at Giardina's, the barbecue at Spooney's, and the soul food at Mattie's represent some of my fondest eating memories of the past year.
The fact that the catfish farms are going out of business is a tragedy of almost biblical proportions. If the late, great Delta bluesman Robert Johnson were alive today, he would surely be singing the blues about the state of catfish farming.
First cotton, now catfish. The Viking Range Corporation might be the Delta's last best hope.
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5 Comments:
Very sorry that this is happening. I'm picky about my fish given that I usually catch my own, but I do love farm raised catfish (the wild caught ones not so much ... I caught an 18 pound catfish once, let it go).
redfish at 12:39PM on 07/19/08
The death of catfish farming may be a tragedy of almost Biblical proportions for the people who make their living off of it, but it's not a tragedy for the catfish or for those of us who eat farm-raised catfish, who may not know that the catfish, like other feedlot raised animals (cows, pigs, chickens) are forced to eat an unnatural diet (corn & soybeans) and live in an unnatural environment (tightly packed in with many others of their kind, forced to live and eat in others waste). Both of these unnatural conditions require that the farmer also feed their animals antibiotics and hormones to keep them alive under such stressful and disease-ridden environments long enough for them to reach kill-weight. It is an unsustainable and deadly practice, both for the catfish (or pig, cow or chicken) and for those who eat them, as we ingest the antibiotics and hormones along with the meat. THIS is the tragedy of Biblical proportions: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/magazine/16wwln-lede-t.html
marimann at 2:38PM on 07/19/08
Okay I am swearing off meat as we speak.
/seriously, who let that chick in?
redfish at 2:58PM on 07/19/08
@marimann: I was about to comment how I won't miss farm raised catfish all that much because I thing they taste really bad -- a combination of grass and fish poo in my opinion. Now you've given me more reasons to not eat them.
BrianPrestonCampbell at 3:22PM on 07/19/08
RE: "People can eat imported fish, Mr. Dillard said, just as they use imported oil."
I think Congress should hold hearings! They could look into price gouging by Big Siluriformes, and profiteering by speculators and hedge funds.
As a Nation we can't afford to become enslaved by Foreign Catfish Growers.
srhcb at 8:17PM on 07/19/08