Posted on 07/10/2004 1:32:58 PM PDT by Willie Green
After three years of meticulous research, Brenda and J.C. Lyons took their savings and built a prawn and fish farm. They bought a house and barn in Sandoval, Ill., 60 miles east of St. Louis, and went to work.
Two years later, with $180,000 invested, the Lyonses run a prawn hatchery, a nursery and raising ponds. They have buyers both for juvenile and full-grown prawns - large or fresh-water shrimp.
They also market and sell fish from other Illinois farmers. They've applied for a federal Department of Agriculture grant to begin raising three types of fish - hybrid striped bass, tilapia and rainbow trout.
Despite their success, Brenda Lyons said, they're both worried. They have relied on the Illinois Fish Farmers Co-op in Pinckneyville, Ill., for technical and marketing help, and its days may be numbered.
~~~~~ SNIP ~~~~~
Foreign imports were blamed.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
ping
Rugged individualists.
Hey, Willie, it's just capitalism's way of doing things. Eat up all the small guys until there is nothing left but giant corporations that will take care of all our problems. Someone tell me how that is different from socialism?
Not rugged individualists -- according to the story, the Co-op was not funded by the farmers themselves, but by a grant from the State of Illinois. This sounds like a bad idea all around, and they got suckered into it. I think fish grow faster farther south in warmer winters. Illinois would have a hard time competing with the Southern US, much less Southeast Asia.
I am sure there are plenty of fish biologists who will be happy to give these people all the advice they need, for an appropriate consulting fee.
-ccm
I was joking when I suggested that they were rugged individualists. The reporter seems to believe that it is a perfectly normal business strategy to beg government for all kinds of support, and to complain that the government isn't working hard enough to eliminate their competition for them.
You guys don't know the whole story - The state of illinois has been (until blagoevitch got elected governor) trying to get farmers, especially in southern illinois where the ground is not so good, to quit growing row crops & invest in "alternative agriculture"
It was seen as a way to improve the poor economy in the southern illinois area
The state gauranteed funding for several programs until 2009, mostly for technical help & research professors at U of I & SIU
The laws are still on the books for these programs, but blagoevitch has blocked funding the programs, so all of the professors had to take jobs in other states
the bottom line is, the state encouraged people to grow alternative crops, which was a good plan as you cant make any money with row crops unless you farm over 1000 acres, and the people that decided to try it are now getting screwed
I should also point out that the alternative ag programs didnt do anything that the state doesnt already do for row crop, cattle, & hog farmers, and cost a lot less
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