Resource productivity and costs of aquaculture practices: Economic-sustainability perspectives from U.S. catfish farming

Authors: KUMAR, GANESH - Mississippi State University; ENGLE, CAROL - Engle-Stone Aquatics, Llc; VAN SENTEN, JONATHAN - Virginia Tech; SUN, LIANQUN - Mississippi State University; HEDGE, SHRADDHA - Texas A&M University; Richardson, Brad

Submitted to: Aquaculture Economics & Management
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/19/2023
Publication Date: 5/26/2023
Citation: Kumar, G., Engle, C., Van Senten, J., Sun, L., Hedge, S., Richardson, B.M. 2023. Resource productivity and costs of aquaculture practices: Economic-sustainability perspectives from U.S. catfish farming . Aquaculture Economics & Management. 574:739715. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2023.739715.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2023.739715

Interpretive Summary: Estimates of farm-level resource use efficiency are a growing part of agricultural economics research. However, many common methods are no practical for use by farmers due to the complexity of the required data and analyses. Here, scientists from USDA-ARS, Mississippi State University, Virginia Tech University, and Texas A&M University collaborated to present practical measures of resource use efficiency that are scalable and easily interpretable for farmers and scientists alike. The metrics estimate a variety of economically important variables including land, labor, energy, production system, and scale to help farmers better monitor resource use and inform farm-level management decisions that may further increase economic sustainability of the catfish aquaculture industry.

Technical Abstract: Growing numbers of research studies have begun to focus on practical approaches to estimate farm-level use and efficiencies of resources. Such practical metrics can aid farms in monitoring resource-use efficiencies to make decisions likely to increase both environmental and economic sustainability of aquaculture production. This study used commercial farm data to evaluate the productivity and costs of the major resources used in U.S. catfish production across nine catfish production strategies practiced on commercial farms. Intensive production systems such as split ponds and intensively aerated ponds demonstrated greatest efficiency in the use of land, water, energy, labor, management, and capital resources. Variations in feed use efficiency reflected the much less variable feed conversion ratios across commercial farms. The productivity of resource use was greater and the costs per kg of catfish lower on larger farms for labor, management, and capital across all production strategies than on smaller farms. Given that management, fixed capital, and salaried labor are fixed costs, the greater efficiencies measured likely reflect effects of economies of scale in resource use. Study results support recent findings that underlying economic efficiencies were the key drivers of progressive adoption of productive technologies in the U.S. catfish industry. The variations in resource productivity and resource cost efficiencies also highlight that, although intensification allows for greater productive use of resources, farms have to adopt strategies that fit their business models to meet differing market demands. The metrics used in this study can be incorporated into enterprise-based farm management tools, allowing closer and more efficient monitoring of key farm resources and sustainability of resource use.