Fish Farmers From Idaho
What Idaho crop bucked the economy and actually was up eight percent last year? The answer might surprise you, I’m Susan Allen inviting you to stay tuned for Open Range. While Idaho is home to some of the nation’s best trout fishing I bet very few of you, myself included were aware that Idaho accounts for nearly half of all the trout that end up in restaurants and super markets 35.6 million, that’s million, pounds of trout were sold last year from Idaho and that my friends a lot of fish! The upsurge in sales and demand for trout in restaurants also caught fish farmers by surprise as many feared the economy would hurt restaurant sales. Now compared to salmon, halibut, cod and even cat fish, trout has traditionally been one of the most affordable seafood restaurants can serve but the Idaho trout farmer can expect to net only $1.01 cent per pound, while that was up two cents from 2008 it is still below the national average of $1.40 a pound. Linda lemmon, the executive director for the Idaho Aquaculture Association was quoted recently as saying that although the higher price is welcome it is not keeping pace with feed costs. Trout is big business throughout the whole Northwest. An Idaho alone an additional market that netted 100 million dollars last year were the trout that were raised for restoration and recreation by state and federal hatcheries. Next time you land a big rainbow you have it’s another reminder of our regions vast and varied agriculture. I’m Susan Allen
