Farmed Prawns in Southern Ohio

I had a competely forgettable trip to Ohio this weekend. I had a Thanksgiving dinner that was pretty bad ... it could help you appreciate Swanson.

I made it to one of the larger candy cane manufacturers located in Cincinnati - Doscher's - only to find that they closed their retail store (not their factory) a number of years ago.

I did find those Old London Cheese Waffles - carried at Kroger's - and they were good.

Spent yesterday at the in-laws skimming through 100+ agriculture magazines. Several tobacco farmers in So. Ohio and N. Kentucky are developing prawn farming as a replacement crop. I saw pictures of the product and most were 10-20/lb. and they are currently selling at $8/ lb.

After reading the article, I noticed that I drove past the farm back on Friday when visiting the Ripley, OH tobacco market. Normally, it is a place that I would have stopped but the sign did not look all that promising. (On a recent trip to Central Nevada, I had planned to visit a lobster farm but found that the place had closed down a couple of years ago.)

Inland aquaculture's not that new... any pond can be set up for catfish or tilapia, but marine (ocean) stuff is tougher. I have heard that shrimp can be set up in a warehouse full of tanks, solving the fresh delivery problem.

I have no idea how widespread that's becoming.