To Fund, or not to Fund....

There are times I feel like a broken record.  However I am beginning to believe the Recirculating Aquaculture environment has to be one of the harder items to get funded.  Not because it isn't a viable option, but because people tend to believe what they initially read on the internet, and not actually research the field. (or believe what is put in front of them).  We all know that if it is on the internet then it must be true.

I will say up front that like any venture RAS has it's liabilities.  Maybe more than most.  However, these can be overcome quite easily.  Unfortunately what happens so many times is if we have potential investors or lenders that go to the internet to do their own research; they will actually look into the wrong information.  (remember, if it's on the internet it must be true).

What I mean by that is with the RAS field, it has moved so quickly in the last couple of years in the United States that if you are looking at anything prior to maybe 2011 anything you find is pretty much outdated.  I say the United States as countries in Europe such as Norway and Denmark have actually been successfully using RAS systems for upwards of 15+ years.  So when they look at information they will look at reports written in early 2000's which will tell you that RAS is not viable for one reason or another.

There are also a few authors that write that as recently as 2012 there are x number of RAS shrimp facilities that have gone out of business for whatever reason and they give those reasons.  Now, of course I am an RAS proponent.  So I started to look up the names of those facilities as there is no data base in the U.S. of RAS facilities.  These authors state it was because of fluctuation in shrimp prices, it is a niche market, etc...  Well, the truth of the matter is of the four companies they reference in the articles, 3 of them actually went out of business in the 90's or early 2000.  Of those, one company was a scam.  The two who set it up were actually tried for securities fraud.  Recently they tried to set up another company in California and were stopped before they could do it again.  Another company went out of business in a manner of speaking.  They sold to another company who turned it from a shrimp farm into a research center.  Another company started a huge facility where they were $4 million in debt from the beginning.  Had their shrimp facility in one state, a research facility in another state and received their larvae from another state.  Pretty much sunk from the get go.  The 4th, I couldn't even find the name so it's hard to tell when they went out of business.

So I think you see the point.  I have a list of 9 current companies that have been in business from 12 years to current.  Those are never listed.  One of those companies who has been around the longest is actually expanding.

Now, I'm not giving up on my search for lenders or investors, but I always wonder what they find on the internet.  It is filled with articles as I mentioned.  But you don't find articles with successes unless you actually go to the sites dealing with the seafood industry.

Hopefully I won't have to continue to sound like a broken record for long.  So onward we go asking To Lend or not to lend.....

We are still here

There are times where you get so side tracked by other things that you forget about the other important things that you need to be doing.  That would include keeping up on the blog to let you know what we have been up to.

In the last month we have been working on our final push to pick up our final funding through our Community Funded project.  Although it was a great effort we fell short.The staff of the Community Funded are great. They worked tirelessly to try to help me reach our goal.

We have also been working on a new package for our new Farm Services Agency loan package. Our last submission did not get denied we just ran out of time is the submission from the never ending request for more information. Next week we will be meeting personally with the Farm Service Agency to review our loan package to ensure we have everything we need before we submit for final review.

Although this does not seem like much,  it has taken several months to get things lined up. We will get back to a regular routine of keeping you up to date on what we're doing, and we hope you will continue to follow us on our journey.

Lastly, thanks to all of you who have been contacting us lately. It has been great hearing from you and getting to know such great people. For all of you who do have questions please feel free to e-mail me and I will get right back to you. This is has been an exciting time  and will continue to be one. Please make sure you continue to follow us.

Scott