Tru Shrimp announces first $50 million production facility

The farm will be supplied by a new company hatchery and more than 3,630 tons of shrimp will be processed annually. 

Tru Shrimp Company signed a letter of intent Tuesday to locate its first $50 (€44.6)+ million shrimp production facility, 'Luverne Bay Harbor' in Luverne, Minnesota, United States. 

The company also issued a letter of intent to locate the first shrimp hatchery, 'Marshall Cove Hatchery' in Marshall, Minnesota.

The company will renovate a vacant USDA-approved factory in Marshall to process the 8 million lbs (3,629 metric tons) of shrimp estimated to be produced by a single 'harbor' annually and will open a training facility in Balaton to train personnel working in the production harbors.

Construction of the training facility, hatchery and renovation of the processing facility is scheduled to begin yet this year, with groundbreaking for the harbor scheduled for early 2018.

“What is happening in Minnesota has not been done anywhere in the world," said Tru Shrimp President and CEO Michael Ziebell.

"There are 1.6 billion lbs of shrimp consumed annually in the US and 80 percent of it is imported largely from southeast Asia," he said. "The facilities in Marshall and Luverne will produce the most natural shrimp possible using a sustainable, antibiotic-free, and environmentally responsible approach.

“We are often asked why raise shrimp in Minnesota, and the answer is because the feed is here. Economically and environmentally it makes much more sense to raise shrimp near their food source than to ship feed to shrimp raised in coastal ponds thousands of miles from the US market. Until now, the technology to effectively raise shrimp in the Midwest United States on a large scale did not exist; now it does and we have proven it.”

An economic impact study conducted by the University of Minnesota indicated that construction and operation of the facilities in Marshall and Luverne will provide a major economic boost to the region.

The study projects the construction of a single harbor would generate more than $48 million (€42.8 million) in economic contribution. 

Construction of the bio-secure facility would result in $14.5 million (€12.9 million) of labor income and support an estimated 330 jobs.

Once the nine-acre structure is built it will continue to generate an estimated $23 million (€20.5 million) annually in economic activity and provide employment directly and indirectly for 124 people, Tru Shrimp said.