Paul Damhof and Barb Frank, who have experience growing farm-raised shrimp from baby shrimp imported from Florida, have teamed up to create Minnesota Shrimp, a new company in rural Blomkest that will be the area’s first shrimp hatchery. Once fully operational, Minnesota Shrimp could provide baby shrimp to shrimp growers around the country. Carolyn Lange / West Central Tribune
Hawaii have patented genetics. So every 4-6 months, Minnesota Shrimp must purchase new pairs of breeding stock. Currently, the tiny PLs grow in a small nursery tank during this research phase, but once the process is perfected, the baby shrimp will grow in six brandnew gleaming white raceway tanks. Measuring about 25 by 15 feet, each tank – which Damhof calls a “lazy river” – holds 4,500 gallons of water. After 21 days the PLs will be bagged up and sent to shrimp farms to grow to market weight. When they reach full capacity, it’s expected that about 10% of the PLs raised by Minnesota Shrimp will be used by the Shrimp Shop and Simply Shrimp. The rest of the PLs will be sold. “There’s a worldwide shortage of babies,” said Damhof. “Getting rid of the babies will not be a problem.” Future dreams “I say I raise water and the shrimp are the by-product,” said Bruns, hinting at the complexity of creating the right environment for shrimp. The new, larger tanks and water and air filtration system she installed will help her produce about three times as many market-ready shrimp than she
could in her old system. Bruns said she’ll hit the ground running with her new setup as soon as she gets PLs from up the road in Blomkest, which will be a big improvement from waiting for them to be shipped from Florida. Damhof has building plans ready to go for his new growing facility, where he also intends to use PLs born on his farm. When they reach market weight, he intends to process the fresh shrimp with equipment developed and made in Willmar. When it comes to bringing the shrimp industry to west central Minnesota farm country, Frank gives all the credit to Damhof and his family. “He did a heck of a lot of research for raising shrimp,” she said. Their mutual dream now is to help other displaced livestock farmers who may have empty dairy or poultry barns turn that unused space into shrimp farms. In the future, she said they may write a handbook to help guide others into the field of raising shrimp in Minnesota to help diversify local agriculture. You may contact the author at clange@wctrib.com.
Nova-Tech’s ShrimpWorks equipment poised to revolutionize shrimp processing business BY CAROLYN LANGE West Central Tribune
Designed and built at Nova-Tech Engineering in Willmar, the multifaceted ShrimpWorks automated platform may change the way fresh shrimp is processed for the consumer market. ShrimpWorks
14 | WEST CENTRAL TRIBUNE - OCTOBER 2021
WILLMAR — Giving customers “revolutionary solutions” to help them “feed the world” was the driving force that engineers at Nova-Tech Engineering in Willmar used to develop an all-in-one piece of equipment that performs multiple tasks to prepare fresh shrimp for market. The automated platform, called ShrimpWorks, has the potential to dramatically change how fresh shrimp are processed here in west central Minnesota’s burgeoning shrimp industry and in countries around the world — including those that rely on manual labor. After nearly five years
and several million dollars invested in the research and development stage, this year Nova-Tech launched ShrimpWorks, a customizable automated platform that can measure, sort, devein, peel and remove heads and legs from fresh shrimp. Clients can choose which functions they want performed on their shrimp. That flexibility allows the end-consumers, such as restaurants and grocery stores, to customize the products they sell and serve. Shrimp farmers can program the ShrimpWorks platform “to do whatever they want it to do,” said Nova-Tech CEO Jim Sieben, during a presentation
