More than 300 fish farmers, government officials and industry experts attended the event held on site at Bell Farms in Albany, Indiana.
The mill represents the last major step toward completion of a vertically integrated aquaculture farm that has long been in development by the team at Bell.
This vertical integration includes a 1000 metric ton fish farm, an in-house processing facility and production of value added products generated from capture and cultivation of by-products.
“A long time dream has been realized here today. I am very proud of our team, our partners and our community for working together to make this dream a reality and take this critical step toward providing a solution to our coming food deficit.” said Norman McCowan, President & CEO of Bell Aquaculture LLC.
“This truly is a momentous occasion and a milestone in what Brian Baldwin and I began almost a decade ago.” said Michael Miller co-founder of Bell Aquaculture LLC. “It is amazing to see what a group of individuals can come together to achieve.”
Led by Dr. Steven Craig with over 25 years of experience in fish nutrition, the feeds from this mill will be tailored to the nutritional, biological and physiological needs of specific species at key points in the life cycle of the fish. The mill will be the first of its kind to produce feed locally to service the aquaculture industry on a mass scale. Bell Farms™ is expected to produce approximately 2 million pounds of feed per month sourcing over half of ingredients locally.
This realisation of the Bell dream is the result of countless hours of research, development and implementation by many companies, organizations and individuals working toward goals that have now become synergistic with the National Strategic Plan for Federal Aquaculture Research announced by President Barack Obama on 17 June.
Bell would like to extend our sincerest gratitude and appreciation to all who participated in making this happen including The Conservation Fund’s Freshwater Institute, Indiana Soybean Alliance, the Soy Aquaculture Alliance, the Indiana Department of Agriculture, Pranger Enterprises, Low Salinity Incorporated, the State of Indiana, Pentair Aquatic Eco Systems, the towns of Albany and Redkey, Delaware and Jay Counties and the team at Bell.
