Aquatic Ranching
When you think about ranching, most of us picture great expanses of land dotted with cattle but like everything else the term can have a much broader meaning, especially here in the NW hotbed of the sustainability movement. I’m Susan Allen thanks for joining me on Open Range. Stay tuned .While the vocation of ranching is defined by most as some sort of a combination of horses, cattle and crops, here in the northwest it also includes aquatic species. Idaho happens to have the designation of the nation’s top trout producing state and home of the world’s largest trout farmer Clear Springs Foods of Buhl. Oregon and Washington are big players as well. No surprise then that our unique region, known the abundance of a variety of crops that include fabulous wine grapes and prized hops to provide yet another upper scale delicacy, one historically the favorite of kings and the uber rich …black gold… Caviar. And those eggs that sell for over $200 an ounce are providing a new niche market for sustainable sturgeon ranching. Because wild sturgeon, those fascinatingly odd creatures that have survived since prehistoric times are threatened by over fishing, pollution and poachers, restaurateurs are only too happy to serve up 100 percent sustainable made –in- America caviar. The eggs from a ten year old hundred pound female sturgeon are harvested, cleaned and then aged to perfection for three months to a year and like our fine wine is what sets one rancher apart from the other. Currently California’s Sacramento valley produces 85% of all white sturgeon caviar but that quickly changing as NW sturgeon ranchers are getting into the mix, bringing a whole new meaning to surf and turf.