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Posted on Tue, Jan. 08, 2008 Tilapia and ‘living’ basil give former Basehor dairy farmers a new niche market By LAUREN
CHAPIN Jeff Meyer of Cal-Ann Farms leans over the 15,000-gallon concrete fish tank in his family’s old dairy barn and plunges a net deep into the dark water. Wearing thick, black rubber gloves to protect his hands and forearms from needlelike dorsal fins, he drags the net along the bottom of the 8-foot-wide aquarium. Meyer strains under the weight of his catch, a dozen or more captive tilapia writhing, thrashing and jumping inside. Meyer pivots and stutter-steps toward the scale swaying from a rafter. After weighing his catch, he lugs the fish out of the barn, hops into the bed of his pickup and gently slides the fish into a small chest freezer full of room-temperature water. For Meyer, the future of farming is not in milk and butter but in aquaponics — the complementary system of raising fish (aquaculture) and using nutrient-rich fish wastewater to grow plants without soil (hydroponics). Once a week, the fifth-generation cattleman and former dairyman in Leavenworth County harvests 150 pounds of live tilapia to deliver to two area markets: the Asian 888 Market, 9848 Santa Fe Drive in Overland Park, and Super Value Food, 2904 Independence Ave. Although Meyer still runs some cattle, he is one of the first farmers in the Kansas City area to venture into aquaponics. Tilapia is a popular choice for fish farming worldwide because the species is easy to raise and adaptable to a variety of climates. The fish is also gaining favor with consumers because the white, fine-textured flesh is low in fat and mild in flavor. But as any farmer knows, it is unwise to put all your stock in one tank. Since September 2006 Cal-Ann Farms has also gotten into the business of raising “living basil.” With the root ball intact, the plants are able to survive for about two weeks on a window sill. The lush, green plants are sold in the produce section at 27 local Ball’s Food Price Chopper’s and Hen House supermarkets. Fish tales The Meyers — Jeff, Pam, son Nick and daughters Becky and Michelle Meyer McGown — got out of the dairy business in 1998. Milk prices had sunk to new lows, and reliable farm help was hard to find. Shortly after auctioning off their milking equipment and livestock, they began fishing for something they could raise sustainably when they waded into aquaponics. “We started with fish because we like to eat healthy and we wanted to do something good for the environment,” Jeff says. “Our focus is on sustainable agriculture.” While attending an aquaponics seminar in the Virgin Islands, Jeff was convinced that raising tilapia was “pretty much bullet-proof. It is much more durable than other freshwater fishes.” And they would grow vegetables in a makeshift greenhouse attached to the fish barn at their Basehor farm. Nicknamed “MacGyver” by his family, Jeff cobbled together the various fish tanks, plant growing beds and automated fish feeding bins needed for their new farm operation. The two crops — fish and vegetables — would be sustainable. Some of the water from the fish would be pumped into aquaponic beds to grow vegetables like peppers, cucumbers, lettuce and basil. The plants would help filter the water; the nutrient-rich water would fertilize the plants. Once they had products to sell, McGown began marketing her family’s produce. She called Dale Housworth, local products buyer for the Ball’s Food grocery chain. He had plenty of farmers growing the standard vegetables, but when McGown mentioned basil, Housworth perked up. With encouragement and support from Hen House, the Meyers decided to focus on growing living basil. Unlike bell peppers or tomatoes, which grow on a vine, they found that they could not use the nutrient-rich fish water to grow the basil, because there was no safe, economical way to purify the runoff which comes into direct contact with the edible leaves. As a result, the Meyers modified their business: They invested in a professional greenhouse to grow basil and would use the rural water system as their water source. Living basil Pam prefers working with the basil, a signature crop they can grow year-round. The greenhouse — warm, quiet and peaceful — has become Pam’s second home. Like a mother hen, she fusses over her brood. She scans row upon row of verdant green plants, looking for a wizened leaf or a straggly giant in a plug that towers over its flat mates. With quick, sure hands, Pam pinches a leaf here, gently tugs a seedling free, depositing the refuse in a trash can. “I like the whole process — the planting, the growing, the watering, especially when they are not so delicate that you can’t touch them,” Pam says. She uses a planter that vacuums tiny Geneva Sweet Basil seeds into a circular pattern, then forces them into small, organic peat plugs. The trays are set below grow lights in a heated propagation room. When the seedlings have developed their first true leaves —after about two weeks — the plugs are spaced out and transplanted into another tray. They then are moved onto water-filled tables. When they are about 8 inches tall, the plants are ready for market. During the winter it takes five weeks for basil to go from seed to store shelf. In the summer the cycle is shortened by one week. Housworth first saw “living” basil at the Produce Marketing Association convention four years ago in Atlanta. “I was looking for someone to do basil, which is very popular with shoppers,” he says. “That was the whole purpose of starting with them.” “I’ve stopped at the farm a lot, spending an hour or two, looking at packaging, the greenhouse,” he adds. “They are a great family to work with — very quality-conscious people.” Hedging their bets Although basil presented some barriers, the Meyers are looking for ways to maximize the potential of aquaponics. They continue to grow 10 varieties of green peppers aquaponically. Inside the lean-to, dozens of 4-foot-tall plants are centered in small holes bored in thick Styrofoam sheets that float on raised tanks of fish water. Tethered to the ceiling by thin nylon string that threads around the stalk, the roots spread in the nutrient-rich water. “Based on our current volume of fish, we could run a greenhouse 10 times the size of our current one,” Jeff says. “If we expand, we would adapt the removal process and use those fish solids as a sideline business: selling organic fertilizer.” The Meyers also talk about expanding production to service more supermarkets and moving into processing the fish on the farm. Hen House has talked to the Meyers about supplying its stores with tilapia. “They’re not big enough yet to supply our stores,” says Housworth. “They are selling everything they can grow to individual markets. It is something we would like to do with them, but they have already made huge investments with the greenhouse.” Jeff is philosophical about their move from land and cattle to water and fish. “I always was a fish nut,” he says. “I probably should have jumped into this with all four feet, but I’m probably overly cautious. They say you’re not a fish farmer until you lose at least 100,000 fish. Fortunately, I’m not a fish farmer yet.”
RESOURCES •Tilapia: Available at 888 Market, 9848 Santa Fe Drive, Overland Park, and Super Value Food, 2904 Independence Ave. •Green and red peppers: Available at the Price Chopper in Leavenworth •Living basil: Sold at 27 of the Ball’s Foods Hen House and Price Chopper supermarkets for about $3.50 per pot. Look for the plants in the produce section. @ To see a photo gallery of Cal-Ann Farms, go to www.KansasCity. com and click FYI, then Food. To reach Lauren Chapin, restaurant critic, call 816-234-4702 or lchapin@kcstar.com. © 2007 Kansas City Star and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.kansascity.com |
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