Is Now the Time to Go Long Soybeans?

Aquaculture is no panacea for our race's ocean-killing fishing practices. In fact, it can be a major contributor to the problem when you look at the amount of fishmeal required to generate one pound of farm-raised salmon (oh, how I miss salmon....)

As a rule of thumb, I avoid any of the large, carniverous pelagic species: if they're wild, they are already woefully overfished or on the verge; if they're farmed, they require an unconscionable amount of fishmeal to bring them to my plate. Farmed herbivores and omnivores (say, catfish or tilapia - ahhh.....tilapia.....) are another story.

So, what does this have to do with the price of soybeans? Plenty, it turns out.

According to this article in the Brownfield Ag News (I don't make these things up, really!), Americans are increasing their tilapia consumption by approximately 15% a year. Can you say "business opportunity"? Well, the Mexican government can (although I guess they'd say it in Spanish, right?) and is encouraging a boost in fish farming to meet this growing demand.

And what do you think the heavily subsidized Mexican fish farmers feed their tilapia? You've got it!

Francisco de la Torre, who coordinates aquaculture projects in the Caribbean and Latin America for the U.S. soybean industry, says he expects aquaculture in the region to consume about 200,000 tons of soymeal by the end of this year and for that amount to rise by 100,000 tons within the next three to five years.

That's a lot of soybeans.

The potential business opportunities in this story? Let's see: I'll be looking at soybean futures, shipping and refrigeration (I know, carbon footprint! but that's a topic for another post), soybean substitutes for when soybean prices go through the roof, aquaculture facility components...I'm sure you can think of a few yourself. C'mon, share!