As demand for catfish remains high, the only components of its production trending down this year in Mississippi are pond acreage and the price of feed.
Producers are receiving an average of $1.12 to $1.21 per pound of catfish and paying less than $380 for a ton of feed. To Jimmy Avery, Extension aquaculture professor at the Mississippi State University Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, those data are good news for the bottom line.
“Based on feed purchases and processing data, I’m anticipating we should reach the same level of production as last year,” Avery said. “We have had a hatchery season that was stop-again, start-again at times, but it ended up being fairly strong. Most of our hatcheries have met their goals, and the difference between a good and bad season is meeting goals as quickly as possible before labor and equipment expenses cut into profit margins.”
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