Reef Farm Business Plan

[BallaBooyeaH]

WOW great thread.

Well I am in a kinda similiar position. Planning on setting up a farm in Ireland - WHERE - Yes well lepricorns arn't growing as i can't find them so Farming corals is the goal. Also importing live rock and Corals / Inverts for the local market - taking away business for the UK where this country gets everything.

Got all the equipment but no where to setup - it fell through. looking into greenhouses but also trying for a location near the water - Yes free NSW.

See what happen

Thanks for the thread - Wish the market here was like the USA. But hey some one needs to start it off over here. Why not an Aussie like me.

Andrew

[raaden]

BallaBooyeaH,

Glad to hear that Coral Farming is spreading out to more parts of the world. I think this really is the future of our hobby, and who konws maybe by providing quality livestock you can grow the hobby there and help it get to where it is in the US. The market may just be waiting for someone like you to give it a kickstart .

Being in Ireland there are a couple of things that come to mind that you may want to consider. First, I am not sure about the climate, but rather than a true greenhouse you may want to think about doing something like a north wall greenhouse where the only side that is glazed is the south and parts of the east or west. Based on the Latitude of the UK it would seem that this might make more sense. This should give you plenty of light during most parts of the year and save you a ton in heating costs for the winter months.

Second I would do some serious checking before using NSW, not that it couldn't work but the issues I see with this are
1. Temps: Once again I am not sure what the NSW temps would be in the middle of winter but I am sure they will be much below the mid 70's which will require alot of energy in heating the water. In Va Beach the temps can, and somtimes do, get down into the 50's in the cold of winter and heating the amount of water I was planning on running through the system was quite a bit, I would figure in Ireland it would get even colder.
2. Quality: Another is to check the quality of the water. I lived in Virginia Beach when I started my plan and was considering using NSW for my setup as well. Then the more I thought about it the more it seemed that there were quite a few issues that I could run into that could cause the catastrophic event that is my biggest fear. I will admit that for me it was probably a bit different than for most, because the place where I was looking to build was 5 mi. from the largest Naval SeaPort in the world and the chances of oil spills or contamination from dumping was just too great compared to the savings. Not to mention runoff issues, as well as local outbreaks of alga and others. Other things that would affect anyone that is looking to start on the coast and use NSW are: any endemic life in the water (diseases and anything else), the equipment needed to properly filter/clean and return the water, permits that may be necessary, and the price of land on the coast.

After considering all of these things as well as the hurricane factor it just didn't seem to make enough sense for all of the risk and the little bit of return, for me atleast. When you figure that you will have to filter the incoming water (removing much of what you would want to gain) there is not enough of a cost difference in just purchasing salt (my water is free) and removing the risk entirely. That is not to say in a different situation things wouldn't be different for you or someone else.

Good luck with the adventure and be sure to keep us informed on how it goes.

[raaden]

I'm raising this thread from the dead. Lots of updates since the end of the year, and most of them good. The biggest one is that I finally got my agricultural acknowledgment. Let me tell you what a slippery beast that was, and I got help getting it done from the strangest place; the Department of Revenue. I went to file for a Sales and Use Tax number and the Revenue guy, after talking with me a bit, told me that I didn't really want that if I was only going to be selling wholsale. What he said I wanted was an Agricultural Exemption, because that would let me get supplies and equipment without tax. I explained to him about how I wasn't sure if the "farm" would qualify as agriculture, and he told me all I needed to do was fill out the forms and register them. They just don't have to do inspections, and permits becuase it is ornamental. There was no reason why they wouldn't recognize my facility as being aquaculture. Awesome!!! He was a great help and proves if you work with the right people the government can be a great asset.

I also got my (second) order in for the greenhouse, and have started to recieved the pieces. I just got the heater, and over a ton of salt,

and am expecting most of the structure by the end of next week. I spoke with the vat builder and that shouldn't be a problem. The sand looks like it is also going to be available when I need it, and slowly but surely I am setting up suppliers for the rest of what I will need. All in all things have been going much better, although slower, than I thought they would.

A couple of things have had to change though since I last planned. I had to change the GH film from the KL-380 to an Infrared blocking version because the KL-380 would be over a month before they would start making it again. I also changed the size of the vats from 8'x3'x3' to 7'x3'x2.5'. This was for two reasons: when I tried different layouts of the entire GH it allowed me to get all my work area into the middle aisle so that I could fit 4 more vats; and it also meant the vat builder could modify an existing mold instead of making a new one saving me a bunch of money.

I think it was absolutely the right idea to delay til the spring, and take care of getting things set up. With that said I have realized that I can now call the whole planning thing DONE! I will still use and update this thread for seeing how the plan has actually taken form vs. how it was planned. As I move into the operations of the reef farm I am going to start a new thread (and documentary website ) where I will cover things moving forward with the setup of the GH and all of the things that happen from there. There is not much to show right now except a few pictures of the things I have gotten so far. As always I am looking for lots of input and ideas for how to best make this work.

Things I still want to get into the plan and this thread:

More info on whether coral reproduction is viable for this operation. This would be a big thing that if I knew before hand would definitely affect my decision of what types of things to aquaculture or whether to try a different setup.

What the actual growout times are versus what I had planned. I did alot of research and talked to quite a few people about this but honestly I am not quite sure what to expect as far as growth rates for either the broodstock or the grown out pieces. This would have alot of affect on things in this plan depending on what the findings are. It will also drastically affect the financials.

Lots of little projects to see if they can lead to sustainable aquaculture. Half of the reason for this in the first place is so that I can see what can be learned from having a setup like this.

[toddlaco]

Raaden, I am very interested in the Agricultural Exemption you received. I take it from your post that it came from the state and not national, correct?

I am currently in the same boat with regards to working on being considered agriculture. I have recently found a large shrimp farm (Aqauculture of Texas, Inc.) that I am going to hit up for some info if there is anything that can be shared between fresh water shrimp farming and coral farming. I am sure there must be some similarities.

Is there any way that you can send me a copy of the forms that you used with the state of NC for the Agricultural Exemption? If they are NC forms I should be able to search them online with the form numbers. Having an example may help me get somewhere with the state of Tx. They look at me like I have five heads when I talk to the Dept of Agriculture about this type of Aquaculture. They actually told me to talk to the Dept of Natural Resources??????

[RedSonja]

Sounds like things are starting to come together for you. So exciting! Thanks for the explanation of how you got the agriculture exemption, I'm glad you did that because I haven't yet gotten a sales and use tax ID for the aquaculture business (using the one I got for a former, now-defunct business idea). Will you email me the guy's name that worked with you on that please?

When do we have your ground-breaking ceremony?

-Sonja

[raaden]

Todd,

You are correct that the form is state, and I think the reason when the federal government stays out of it is that each state has its own rules regarding what sort of agriculture they want to foster within the state. This way they can make the laws work however they want and the feds don't have to get involved. The important forms were at the D of R, and they were Form NC-BR (the Sales and Use form, which I am going to keep for now until I find out if wholesalers will accept the Agricultural Exemption) and form NC-595EA (this is the form that allows the Agricultural Exemption, and once I told them I had this the D of A really came around), and this D of R form gives you what most farmers call the "Farm Card". I can't remember the forms for the D of A, as all I really had to fill out was just basically a registration form to be listed in the registry. That is all they wanted, if I were raising food fish or other things for human consumption there was a whole packet of things I had to fill out and then go through months of inspections. So all in all the statute, and people I talked with initially were right it was just presented oddly, leading me to believe that it was not aquaculture when in fact it is but is just not overseen the way most aquaculture is.

They probably told you to talk to DNR about your effluent, and where and how to dispose of it. This is one thing that I am looking into currently, and depending on what sort of oversight the facility will have could be my next bout of heartburn.

[raaden]

Sonja,
I will get you his contact info tonight when I get home. You may want to still pick up a S&U number as I have a feeling that is what wholesalers are looking for, not to mention if you sell anythign retail you definitely need it. As far as the groundbreaking, I am hoping it will be next weekend sometime, but I'm not holding my breath. I am waiting until I hear that the ground posts have been shipped. Once that happens all heck will be breaking loose. I will order the utilities and base rock for the site, bring in the post hole digger, pick up the 30+ bags of concrete, get a delivery date for the vats, start the sand in transit, and while all that is happening I will hopefully get the structure built and covered.

[toddlaco]

Raaden, thanks for the info. I think it may help quite a bit with my dealings here with the state.

From cursory research, I don't think the DNR has anything to do with the waste water. I have seen forms that are used for obtaining permits and inspections from the Dept of Agriculture with regards to processing and releasing waste water from aquculture here in Texas. The only problem is that the state only recognizes shrimp and a few different kinds of food fish as aquaculture. I think I can make some headway with the NC forms as examples though.

Thanks again

[raaden]

Todd,

It sounds like you are in a similar boat as I am. NC aquaculture statutes state that only certain things can be get an aquaculture certification from the state. These are things like food fish, shrimp, clams and other food type items. The way it reads they disallow all other types of aquaculture without a huge ordeal of permits, inspections, and many many trips to the D of A. The good thing about NC is that later on in the same statute they list a couple of exceptions and one of them is any production related to ornamental aquaculture and related products.

I am not sure if Texas has any such provision on the books. A good place to start is to go to the Agriculture Extension office which is usually on or near the campus of the local college that specializes in farming. They were a huge help with finding information to even know how to go about this whole thing with the State.

Another is the American Farm Board although they will probably tell you to get your Agricultural Exemption first, I think this has to do with people coming to them for help with grants and loans that don't actually setup anything.

If there is anything else I can help with let me know

[RedSonja]

Originally posted by toddlaco
Raaden, thanks for the info. I think it may help quite a bit with my dealings here with the state.

From cursory research, I don't think the DNR has anything to do with the waste water. I have seen forms that are used for obtaining permits and inspections from the Dept of Agriculture with regards to processing and releasing waste water from aquculture here in Texas. The only problem is that the state only recognizes shrimp and a few different kinds of food fish as aquaculture. I think I can make some headway with the NC forms as examples though.

Thanks again

Todd,

Here's the URL to the PDF of the form raaden mentioned. I'm going to fill it out and print it and mail it as soon as I get the name from raaden on whose attention to address it to. I might not *have* to talk to someone face to face to get the exemption, but it never hurts to have a contact who's at least friendly and BTDT if anything hits any bumps.

http://www.dornc.com/downloads/filli...EA_webfill.pdf

-Sonja

[marcsmith73]

Looks great! Looks like you put some thought into it. What are your future plans for this business?

How much space are you working with?

[raaden]

Most of my plans are documented in the BP itself. I am looking to wholesale much of the stock, as well as develop some products that will hopefully show up in the retail market.

As far as space goes I am going to have about 1350 sf to work with. Usable water table space should be around 420 sf, while that seems like alot of wasted space that is about as tight as I could get it and still make the working conditions good.

[raaden]

Just a quick update for those who haven't seen the operations thread, we have broken ground on the site and have lots of pics of the equipment and structure.
Stop by here and you can see where we currently stand with the construction.

[raaden]

With the idea of posting lessons learned/better ways that are picked up along the way I will start with these.

When you are looking at putting up a greenhouse grading is incredibly important. The area where I am putting the greenhouse is relatively flat, but even the slightest dip or roll in the area over a 52' wall makes a big difference. There are quite a few things that can be done with this, and I won't get into all of them, but if you are putting up a structure like this it is probably a good idea to get someone in to grade the area anyway. The cost is pretty high, if you ask me, but it will save alot of effort.

Another thing is to get everything that goes along with the kit. In my case I chose not to go with the endwalls that are available with the kit, and since that is the case I am having to create schematics for all of the equipment placement. Along with that attaching the framing lumber is up to me. Had I gone with the endwall kit this would have all been provided. Neither of these is a big deal, but just adds to all of the "extra work" that has to be done to get the structure up and operational.

Both of these points illustrate the fact that if you can get something done for you by an expert or get things you need as part of the kit, that is the better way to go. You will definitely spend more this way but you have to remember that each week you are not working the "reef-farm" you are losing money anyway.

[Nammy]

Nice to see your project underway raaden.

[chbarber]

raaden, where is your farm currently at north of raleigh? I am a student at State and I am interested in coral aquaculture and am going through the aquaculture programs here at State with Dr. Harry Daniels. They are currently doing research on fish tank aquaculture of southern flounder but are raising talapia to keep in the profit. Talapia is not a hard fish to grow according to the prof's here and it has a good profit. Plus this would give you complete aquaculture status in the state of NC since this is a food fish.

[raaden]

Currently I am up past the lake, not really raleigh but it does have a Raleigh address. Kudos on the aquaculture and zoo major. I am looking into starting something at State with the spring semester next year. I have been reading everything I can on the actual propogation, but am very interested in the Aquaculture Business side as that would be something I would consider getting into. It would be great to see how other operations do even the most basic things, trying to see what I can copy and what I can tweak. The hope is that I can get some ideas for when I look to expand in a few years. The other thing is that if I can get a degree, it makes getting farm loans that much easier and allows for a bit bigger of a loan and better rates.

As far as food fish goes there are two reasons I am going to stay away from that at all costs atleast at this point.
1. This is the biggie, the permits and inspections are pretty stringent and the costs would make it a no-go for me at this point. Between all of that I just couldn't do it on the budget that I have to get started. Depending on the amount of success I have I might consider it when I make the decision to expand.

2. When I was first figuring out what I wanted to do I thought about devoting half the setup to Clams, and raising both food clams and ornamental clams, but the problem was that I would have to work 2 sets of sales and shipping concerns and with the business just getting off the ground, I thought that might be a bit much to handle.

Overall the idea intrigues me and depending on where I stand in a few years I definitely would like to consider going that route, if I have the capital to get it going. When I get further along I may just look you up and get your ideas on what it would take to get something like that going.

[NbMaxx13]

Updates?

[RedSonja]

Originally posted by NbMaxx13
Updates?

The updates are being posted here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1065896

-Sonja