There was a time when Arkansas was dotted with catfish ponds, and not the kind where children with cane poles and a can of worms would try their luck.
These catfish ponds covered acres and acres, mostly in south and southeast Arkansas, and were brimming with all sizes of catfish for the commercial processor. These commercial ponds — along with those in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi — helped feed the nation.
It wasn’t that long ago. To catfish farmers, whose market has cycled even as fish-farming techniques have improved, it might seem so.
“We’ve had a tremendous shakeout since the early 2000s where we lost acreage,” said Larry Dorman, an aquaculture specialist with the Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
Arkansas had nearly 38,000 acres devoted to catfish farming as recently as 2003, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
In July, the statistics service reported that Arkansas farmers had scaled back operations to 4,900 acres.
Arkansas is still the nation’s third-largest catfish producer, behind No. 1 Mississippi (35,000 acres in 2016) and No. 2 Alabama (14,800 acres).
The industry hit hard times when competition from Asian producers, which flooded the market with cheaper alternatives, combined with rising feed prices to put the squeeze on the Arkansas farmer.
The farmers who survived the downturn have seen a return to a more manageable market.
Feed prices, which once reached nearly $500 a ton, have fallen back to the $300 range, which gives flexibility to the farmers’ margin.
The price for a pound of catfish is in the $1.20 range, a much-welcomed improvement from the dark times when a market glut drove the price to 80 cents and even cheaper at some processing plants.
“The fundamentals are better for us,” said Bari Cain, the executive director of Catfish Farmers of America. Cain operates about 400 acres south of McCrory in Woodruff County. “Feed prices have gone down, and the prices have remained relatively good. The fundamentals look better.”
Intensified Production
Arkansas farmers may not have as many acres of catfish pond, but they have learned some tricks through genetics and technology to increase their production.
One of the biggest keys is raising a hybrid of a blue and a channel cat. Channel cats grow fast and adapt to different conditions but can suffer from diseases, and the hybrid is a fish that grows well without the same susceptibilities.
“With improved methods of fish farming, we’ve really increased production to a whole other level,” said Brad Graham, the president of Catfish Farmers of Arkansas. Graham operates a 475-acre farm in Montrose (Ashley County).
“Some ponds I’m pulling 15,000 pounds an acre; some ponds are pushing 20,000 pounds an acre. Five years ago, the best I could do was not even 10,000 pounds to an acre. Rather than increasing acreage, I’m trying to just increase production within the acreage I have. The hybrid catfish is one of the main differences.
“We can stock at a heavier density per acre and not have the disease we would have with the channels.”
Cain said hybrid catfish have been used for a decade and, coupled with technological and equipment advances, have allowed farmers to pump up their production — what Cain and Dorman call “intensification.”
Graham said he uses an elaborate — and expensive — 24/7 monitor system with buoys and “electrics” that ensure the ponds constantly maintain proper oxygen levels. That guarantees the fish are properly cared for and maximizes yield from each pond.
“All of my ponds are fully automated,” Graham said. “We don’t have a pond get away from us like it used to. Oxygen would get low and you’d catch it, but it would have been low for an hour or so. We don’t have that now. There’s no stress compared to a few years ago.”
Room for Growth
Arkansas acreage may never return to the 35,000 to 40,000 range, but the state can still produce a significant amount of catfish for market. In the early 2000s, the top four states in the country — the agricultural statistics service stopped including Louisiana in its reports after 2008 — produced nearly 400 million catfish.
From July 2015 to July 2016, that number had fallen to 88.5 million, down 13 percent from the same time span the previous year. Arkansas’ production was 6.4 million, down from 6.9 million the previous year.
“We’ve had some changes in intensification of the industry since,” Dorman said. “We’re still producing a sizable amount of catfish; it’s just on a lot less acreage. Nationwide we are approaching a [healthy] state. We’re seeing a little bit of growth here and there, not massive growth.
“I’d love to see us back in the 20,000 range. I hope it happens.”
The problem with getting back to 20,000 acres, Dorman said, is finances. When farmers get hit, their bankers do too, and he fears that tighter lending might prevent farmers from being able to expand as the market does.
Also, some catfish farmers converted ponds to other agricultural uses, and getting them catfish-ready again isn’t simple or inexpensive. Creating new ponds is equally labor- and capital-intensive.
“We see some numbers that reflect processing being down,” Graham said. “I think that is a supply issue more than a marketing issue. You come off a time when people are losing money. People have to put money back into the ponds.”
Dorman said he believes it might take a few years for the fingerling supply — the baby fish that grow up to be delicious fillets — to catch up with the resurgent production needs.
The market seems stable enough to consider it, even with Asian imports still a concern. In 2015, Arkansas passed Act 1191, which required labeling if the product was imported and whether it was catfish or catfish-like.
“Their volume has increased, even this year,” Cain said of Asian competition. “We’re just making it despite all that. There is a certain amount of business that doesn’t want the Asian product. That’s what we’re catering to.”
Dorman said catfish farming isn’t an easy occupation because of the constant monitoring of supply and demand and the matrix of costs and price.
“The day you raise one catfish too many is the day the prices drop,” Dorman said.
Cain, who has been a catfish farmer since the mid-1980s, said he has to budget for the highs and lows of the market, from year to year. A good price in Year 1 allows him to survive a tough Year 2.
“It’s the average price you get over several years that keeps you going,” Cain said.