Farming oysters is something that most farmers credibly do n’t consider . With oyster , you do n’t need much country or have to feed your crop .
Eating oyster on the half shield out with booster , I ’ve noticed a few change over the long time . And not just in my friends . It seems thatoyster shellshave get deep and the oysters , fatter and tastier .
Most curious is that huitre saloon now proffer oysters in summer . To me , oyster are out of time of year and not as tasty then . Most multitude know the rule that oysters are best in calendar month that have an “ r ” in them , signify that one annul oysters in the spring and summer months of May , June , July and August . But that does n’t seem to be the casing these days . What ’s sound on ?
land oysters — that ’s what ’s going on . Wild - caught oyster broadly speaking grow in clumps of long , thin , flat shells . They reproduce in summer , spitting out gamete ( generative cells ) that eat their heft and tastiness . Wild oyster in summertime often taste slender or muddy .
But the depletion of oyster beds from overharvesting and disease , as well as contamination from cities , industries and intensive livestock operations , has create an incentive for farming these sea creatures . The research and extension services of many state ’ agricultural university have risen to the challenge .
Watch Video : Foraging , Drying & Storing Oyster mushroom
Researchers have breed oyster that are sterile and resist disease . Because they do n’t reproduce , oyster are still productive and tasty in the summertime months , which extends the time of year for farmers . Without spending DOE on bring on the next generation — extension oyster hatcheries take care of that — these oyster add up to maturity in two yr rather than the three it takes wild oysters to accomplish harvest size of it of 3 inches long . That speed profitability for farmers .
If you have access to neat salt urine that has historically supported Atlantic oysters ( Crassostrea virginica ) or West Coast oyster ( Ostrea sp . ) , you may plausibly get a lease for harvest time rights below the low tide line and a Trachinotus falcatus for husbandry oysters . Check with your local ag extension power or wildlife agency . Just an acre or less of shallow water is enough to lead off an huitre farm . Because oysters filter the water for their food for thought , you ’re help the environment while pass nothing on provender . Contrast this with the 5 pounds of Pisces that it film to parent 1 pound of farmed Salmon River .
Oyster Schools
Many coastal ag extension offices declare oneself one - day workshops on agriculture oyster . Ag agents also chat land site for specific technical feedback on what you need to succeed . They can often help you with a business organisation plan , too . In some states , you ca n’t betray directly to the public , so learn about local middleman and restaurants and ask them what they want in term of quantity , quality , seasonality and price .
If you have entree to a dockage , you could protrude increasing your aquatic mollusk knowledge cheaply by working with your local silver extension and doing what ’s called oyster gardening . Many extension huitre hatcheries give away button - size sister huitre to people who commit to growing them for a class so they can repopulate eat huitre bed with juvenile oysters . Some hatchery desire all their huitre back , so you might not get to eat them ( darn ! ) , but you do get a low - cost education in huitre management before taking the next footfall .
Another option : face into a sustainable enfranchisement model called GreenWave . It civilize and assists farmers in go through a mixed land model that bestow seaweed , ocean vegetables , mussels and other marine crop to an huitre cognitive operation to well deal with variation in the market and the conditions .
Tools for Farming Oysters
A pickuptruck , a small work gravy boat and a wharf will get your farm started . oyster can run through only while they are under the water , but that ’s also the time when their shell and containers can get fouled by algae , seaweed , mussel , barnacles and vulture . A setup allowing the oyster to be above water system so they can dry out kills these fouling organisms and have for a sporting and more profitable shell at harvest time .
Many huitre farmers grow their huitre with what ’s call an off - bottom organisation . In it , oysters are suspended near the surface of the water in baskets , bags , tray or cages called oyster condos , rack , Taylor floats or adjustable long - line systems . These devices let the oyster be adjudge above the H2O part of the time .
Some of these containers have floats allowing the racks to be flipped over , while others are suspended from wharf like soggy sheets on a clothesline . When the tide go out , the freeze pocketbook of oyster can dry out out . float cages can be leaf weekly so they can dry out out and kill the fouling organisms . Flipping also makes for a deeper shell and a fatter huitre .
How Much to Get Started Farming Oysters?
The cost estimates of most prolongation websites are based on starting with an acre or more of oysters and a duet of thousand or more bags or cages . That could be from $ 60,000 to $ 200,000 depending on a number of variables .
The University of Maine Cooperative Extension recommends starting lowly with just 25 huitre cup of tea or cages . consider equipment , baby oysters and permitting , you could get set out for less than $ 5,000 if you already have a truck , sauceboat and loading dock . lend another bout of bags or cages and oysters each year , and you could be making a profit in three years . At that scale of measurement , you might manage without a help , but generally oyster farm employees make $ 15 to $ 25 an time of day depending on experience .
Beginner Bait
If you want more data , surf — er , fish — the connection :
Oyster Taste
If you ’re conversant with the impression ofterroir , in which soils and climate determine the taste of vegetables and fruits , then you ’ll translate the notion ofmerroir , in which the character of seas determines the flavors of oysters . Generally , the saltier the sea , the saltier the huitre . Oysters grown near large freshwater rivers are less salty .
The more clock time an huitre spends out of the piss , the fresh it taste . The good tasting oysters — for sweetness and saltiness — are from my home realm of the South Carolina Low Country . lunar time period there run 6 human foot , so oysters spend a lot of time out of the water . The Sea Islands that were my youthful stomping dry land are far from the smallish rivers that course the salinity marshes there , so their saltiness is high . In northerly beds , oysters spend more time submerged . Being above piddle in winter they would die in the coarse frigid atmospheric condition .
Other thing also modify their flavors while the oysters clean the water supply . As filter feeder , a undivided huitre processes about 50 gallons of water in a day . Oysters deplete their preferred alga from the water but they also draw out carbon to make the calcium carbonate for their shells and N to create the protein for their flesh .
agriculture oysters can be aprofitable farmingopportunity , and it ’s also a elbow room to fight back mood disruption and water pollution . Consider as well all the glass - cold lulu of shucked oyster to enjoy , irrespective of how any calendar month is write .
