Posted 11.06.18 / Local Produce, People, Places

Inside a shrimp farm!

While rural Northern Ontario may seem like an unlikely place for a shrimp farm and hatchery, a Sudbury entrepreneur has proved otherwise.

Good4Ushrimp Inc. is located about 20 minutes outside of Sudbury, in Estaire. Surrounded by birch and evergreen trees, this 18,000 square-foot facility is one of four shrimp farms in Canada and the first hatchery in the country. Once fully operational, it will be producing 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of shrimp per week!

Kerry LeBreton previously worked bringing in new technologies for companies in the region but felt he needed a career change.

“We have a very keen interest in food nutrition,” he said,” and some of the stuff we eat is causing all sorts of issues.”

For example, “we found out how bad the stuff we were importing. Everything that is frozen is covered in sodium metabisulfite”, a preservative agent.

Shrimp is tasty and nutritious – low in fat, high in protein and vitamin B12 – but it’s also a global commodity, afflicted with its own controversies. Human trafficking, contamination, fraud, among other concerns, plague the international market and LeBreton didn’t want to sit back and complain. He saw an opportunity.

Good4Ushrimp sells to the public, on Saturdays, during the Winter Market in the Southridge Mall. But you can also find the made-in-the-north shrimp on our new menu!

While most shrimp farms are located outdoors, and fluctuating air temperatures put shrimp at risk for disease, LeBreton’s operation is completely indoors; with water and air temperatures maintained at about 31 Degrees Celsius.

Resembling more like hot tubs, these 54 tanks contain 1.2 million litres of water; and a filtration system pumps 670 litres per minute.

“The water that they are in is a bio floc, a mixture of bacteria, feed, a living organism inside the water, part of the natural ecosystem,” LeBreton explained.

Post-larvea shrimp are available across Canada for other shrimp farms to culture.

Learn more about this eco-friendly farm and check out the company website.

 

 

Good4UShrimp is located about 20 minutes outside of Sudbury, in Estaire

Kerry LeBreton of Good4Ushrimp recently met with Mark Gregorini of Verdicchio Ristorante to give a tour of the facilities.

Resembling more like hot tubs, these 54 tanks contain 1.2 million litres of water; a filtration system pumps 670 litres per minute.

Once fully operational, the farm will be producing 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of shrimp per week.

Surrounded by birch and evergreen trees, this 18,000 square-foot facility is one of four shrimp farms in Canada and the first hatchery in the country.

Look for Good4Ushrimp on our new menu!