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FRANKFORT,
Ky. — Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer
welcomed delegates to the National Association of State
Aquaculture Coordinators' annual conference June 3-5
in Louisville.
Thirty-six
delegates from 25 states attended the conference, which
was held in Kentucky for the first time.
“The
presence of this conference in Kentucky shows how far
we have come in expanding the aquaculture industry in
the Commonwealth,” said Commissioner Farmer, who served
as the keynote speaker at the opening-day luncheon.
“Today consumers can buy Kentucky-raised shrimp, catfish,
tilapia and many other outstanding aquaculture products.
I am excited about the future of this growing industry
in Kentucky.”
Other
speakers at the conference included Angela Caporelli,
aquaculture coordinator and marketing specialist for
the Kentucky Department of Agriculture; Dr. Jim Tidwell,
director of the Aquaculture Research Center at Kentucky
State University; Benjy Kinman of the Kentucky Department
of Fish and Wildlife Resources; Sherman Wilhelm, president
of NASAC; and representatives of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Topics
included the national animal identification program,
organic aquaculture, foreign competition, environmental
rules, best management practices and advances in Kentucky
aquaculture.
Delegates
toured Shuckman's Smokery in Louisville; the Clearwater
lobster holding facility in Louisville, the largest
such facility in North America; Kentucky State University's
Aquaculture Research Center in Frankfort; and Duntreath
Farm in Bourbon County, where owner Susan Harkins is
developing value-added seafood products.
“The
other delegates were amazed at the progress Kentucky
has made in aquaculture,” Caporelli said. “Aquaculture
has tremendous potential for Kentucky producers, and
the Department is committed to helping them meet that
potential.”
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