Mr. Russell Allen

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  www.farmworldonline.com/News/ArchiveArticle.asp?newsid= - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 5/20/2009    Last Visited: 6/7/2009  

  For Russ Allen, president of the Michigan Aquaculture Assoc., what the state really needs is an example of a large operation that will serve as a model.
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  Allen, a shrimp farmer in Okemos, has been working on developing a proprietary system for raising shrimp indoors for years and he's a little cagey about the details. There are plenty of competitors who would like to know the details of the system he's working on.
  
  He said the biggest obstacle to the growth of fish farming is the lack of a processing facility. What he's trying to do with his shrimp operation would include a processing facility and might be useful for fish as well, he stated.
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  According to Allen, a processing facility is key because one can sell only so many fish to lake associations and fee for fishing operations. He said the Indiana Soybean Assoc. has been doing a great job marketing aquaculture in Indiana. He believes everyone in Michigan, especially state legislators, needs to learn more about fish farming and its potential.
  
  "We're trying to show everyone that it's not just talk, that we can really do it," Allen said.
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  Vogler and Allen are hoping their efforts through the Michigan Aquaculture Assoc. will help convince lawmakers and others that aquaculture can work in Michigan on a large scale.

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  www.lansingbusinessmonthly.com/article_read.asp?article - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/1/2007    Last Visited: 10/9/2007  

  Russ Allen weighs some fresh shrimp for sale at the Shrimp Farm Market.
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  To Allen, they're vertebrae in Michigan's economic backbone.
  
  "We're a new industry," said Allen, president of Seafood Systems and owner of the Shrimp Farm Market."Where else can you go to find a track record of indoor shrimp farming?"
  
  Wedged between horse farms and suburban developments on the eastern edge of Okemos, the pilot research facility is the first shrimp farm in Michigan.It's an industry hatching in tanks the size of backyard pools, and one that, Allen claims, could be a multibillion-dollar-a-year commercial enterprise with thousands of jobs.
  
  "This is a story that addresses Michigan today," said Allen."It says what we want and what we need.Now all we need is a mechanism to get it."
  
  Coming home
  
  Allen returned to Michigan in 1990 after 20 years of successful shrimp farming in Latin America.He came back to his stomping grounds, he said, for the public education his kids could get in the United States.He returned, too, with a vision of bringing commercial indoor shrimp farming to a state with 20 percent of the world's fresh water.
  
  "It was a challenge coming back," said the 50-something Allen, adding he'd never held a job in the United States."But I was willing to start the research to see if we could farm shrimp here."
  
  Fourteen years of study, application and a successful farmer's market proves it can be done.
  
  "It's been a long research effort, but we've developed the best way to farm shrimp in the world," said Allen of a method that is environmentally friendly, bio-secure and technologically advanced.
  
  Even more so, Allen's indoor method is economical and efficient.Compared with outdoor shrimp farming, Allen's pilot farm can produce a half-million pounds per year per acre-as opposed to 2,000 to 4,000 pounds for a typical outdoor farm.
  
  "Now the challenge is to go from where we're at with successful technology to creating a successful commercial farm," said Allen.
  
  Schools of thought
  
  Allen's track record in Latin America proves he's a world leader in his field.A University of Michigan graduate, Allen pioneered shrimp farming in Ecuador.In 10 years, the country's export of 100,000 pounds per year grew to 210 million pounds-yielding nearly $1 billion in income.
  
  Allen spawned similar success in Belize where he built that country's first independent shrimp farm.
  
  Demand also paints a convincing argument for Allen's venture into Michigan markets.
  
  According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Americans consume an average of 4.4 pounds of seafood per person annually.With U.S. shrimp farmers meeting just 1 to 2 percent of that demand, imports have skyrocketed to nearly 1.3 billion pounds a year.China is a major supplier.
  
  "We have a tremendous opportunity right here in Michigan," said Allen, mentioning that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned the importation of Chinese shrimp earlier this summer."We have the chance to replace those imports from China, and continue to meet demand."
  
  A marriage of convenience could also be in the making between the state's ethanol producers and shrimp farmers.
  
  A nutritious shrimp food, Allen said, can be created from dry distiller grains left over from ethanol production.With seven or more ethanol plants in the works across Michigan, and with food conversion rate for shrimp being just .7 pounds of feed for one pound of shrimp, Allen's shrimp could be the most well-and cheapest-fed in the United States.
  
  "That's cheaper than for any other farm animal," said Allen, "be it a turkey, a cow, a pig or a chicken."
  
  With feed being much of a farm's operating cost, the availability of inexpensive grain promises to keep the cost of shrimp down, further contributing to the feasibility of Allen's venture.
  
  "We've demonstrated this is a viable operation," said Allen."And we opened a retail market to define who our customers might be."
  
  To date, that market has been a huge success.Open on Fridays and Saturdays, the market sells all sizes of shrimp, from small to super jumbo, with prices ranging from $6 to $20 a pound.
  
  "People love our product," said Allen.

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  www.aquaculture.asn.au/cat_content.asp?contentid=13400& - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 6/30/2009    Last Visited: 6/30/2009  

  The plant is a pilot aquaculture R&D facility designed by company founder and president Russ Allen, a veteran shrimp farmer. He transformed
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  Allen hopes his innovations will benefit the fledgling

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  www.aquaculture.asn.au/cat_content.asp?contentid=13335& - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 6/30/2009    Last Visited: 6/30/2009  

  Russ Allen, a shrimp farmer who is looking at potential West Michigan sites to construct an indoor shrimp-farming facility, said the fish and shrimp raised in
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  Allen, the shrimp farmer and president of the Michigan Aquaculture Association, and Dan Vogler, owner of the largest private aquaculture facility in the state, are promoting
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  Allen, who has been working on a model to raise shrimp in an indoor facility in Okemos for 15 years, believes he has a concept that will fill part of the vast market for shrimp. He said he is looking to produce about a million pounds of shrimp a year at the start, then eventually grow to 5 million a year.
  
  Allen and Vogler admit that a major stumbling block for a large aquaculture expansion is the lack of an in-state processor.

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  www.aquaculture.asn.au/cat_content.asp?contentid=13362& - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 6/30/2009    Last Visited: 6/30/2009  

  Russ Allen, a shrimp farmer and president of the Michigan Aquaculture Association, and Dan Vogler, owner of the state's largest private aquaculture facility, say

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  www.aquaculture.asn.au/cat_content.asp?contentid=13218& - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 6/30/2009    Last Visited: 6/30/2009  

  Over in Okemos, Russ Allen is selling shrimp at his Seafood Systems Inc. -- shrimp he grows right there.
  
  Those shrimp, a few hundred pounds a week, are the test phase product of 15 years of research. He said he envisions acres of indoor shrimp farms, perhaps in
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  has been pretty much a fish-stocking industry," Allen said.
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  But the fish market could be larger -- much larger, said Allen, president of the Michigan Aquaculture Association, and Vogler, who is on the National Trout Farmers Board and the American Farm Bureau Federation aquaculture committee.
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  Allen and the others said the state has not supported aquaculture as a growth industry.
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  Allen called for help from state government, noting the state is looking to diversify its employment base.
  
  Allen and Vogler lamented the Department of Agriculture, overseeing the state's second-largest industry, has been cut to the bone, hindering its ability to encourage new industries.
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  Allen -- who is growing shrimp in
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  , because we have the resources to do this," Allen said.

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  www.aquaculture.asn.au/cat_content.asp?contentid=13219& - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 6/30/2009    Last Visited: 6/30/2009  

  Over in Okemos, Russ Allen is selling shrimp at his Seafood Systems Inc. -- shrimp he grows right there. Those shrimp, a few hundred pounds a week, are the test-phase product of 15 years of research. He said he envisions acres of indoor shrimp farms, perhaps in
  ...
  has been pretty much a fish-stocking industry,'' Allen said.
  ...
  But the fish market could be larger --much larger, said Allen, president of the Michigan Aquaculture Association, and Vogler, who is on the National Trout Farmers Board and the American Farm Bureau Federation aquaculture committee.

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  An Oral History of Shrimp Farming - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/29/2006    Last Visited: 9/26/2009  

  Russ Allen: Russ is a shrimp farming consultant and president of Seafood Systems, which designs and builds aquaculture facilities. He started farming shrimp in 1976 in Ecuador. He says in the early days in Ecuador, "War-like conditions existed between Empacadora Nacional and Empacadora Shayne-Hatfield and McCoy stuff-in boats, at night, just a few degrees south of the equator.

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  Directory - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/2/2009    Last Visited: 4/2/2009  

  Mr. Russ Allen IAC Board Representative Seafood Systems, Inc. 3950 Meridian Road Okemos, MI 48864 (517) 347-5537 FAX: (517) 347-4999

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  Directory - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/28/2007    Last Visited: 4/2/2009  

  Mr. Russ Allen Seafood Systems, Inc. 3950 Meridian Road Okemos, MI 48864

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