Economics of Intensively Aerated Catfish Ponds

The US catfish industry is evolving by adopting production‐intensifying practices that enhance productivity. Catfish producers have increased aeration rates over time, and some now use intensive rates of aeration (>9.33 kW/ha). Costs and production performance were monitored at commercial catfish farms using high levels of aeration (11.2–18.7 kW/ha) in Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi. A multivariate‐cluster analysis was used to identify four different management clusters of intensively aerated commercial catfish farms based on stocking density, size of fingerlings at stocking, and feed conversion ratios (FCR). Breakeven prices of hybrid catfish raised in intensively aerated pond systems were estimated to range from $1.86/kg to $2.17/kg, with the lowest costs associated with the second greatest level of production intensity. The two medium‐intensity clusters generated sufficiently high revenues for long‐term profitability. However, the least‐intensive and the most‐intensive clusters were economically feasible only when catfish and feed prices were closer to less probable market prices. Feed price, FCR, and yield contributed the most to downside risk. Intensive aeration in catfish ponds, up to the levels analyzed in this study, appears to be economically feasible under the medium‐intensity management strategies identified in this analysis.