Aquatic Ranching

Aquatic Ranching

Susan Allen
Susan Allen

 

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.   
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