This article was originally published in the Fall 2024 KCED Newsletter.
Driving South on Highway 71, right before you get to the turn-off for Blomkest, you may have passed the sign, “Simply Shrimp,” and below it, a picture of the state of Minnesota, with a red shrimp curling into it and the words “Minnesota Shrimp, LLC.” Or you may have heard the ‘rumors’ of a rural Minnesota dairy farm switching gears from stalls to pools, cows to shrimp. Perhaps you are of the lucky bunch that experienced driving up the scenic farm drive to pick up Minnesota’s own home-grown, fresh shrimp to enjoy in a salad or on the BBQ. On the day I drove up to Minnesota Shrimp and Simply Shrimp, I didn’t know what to expect, but I was more than pleasantly surprised by the kindness of the owners, who are genuinely invested in the manufacturing process, and highly impressed by the executed science of the operation.
Minnesota Shrimp, LLC, which successfully breeds two species of shrimp and strives to raise them to the post larva (PL) 12 stage. This stage encompasses 21 days of transformation from a near microscopic growth process to a point where they can be sold across the country to other shrimp manufacturers to become a finished, edible product. Simply Shrimp is one of those customers raising shrimp for food production. “When I first started in 2016 we were doing it! I could get baby shrimp from other production farms, raise them to finish here, and then sell them on the market. We had much business from restaurants to local people…but then COVID came.” Said owner and operator Paul Damhof. If you know Damhof, you see this downslide of a statement has little effect on the near perma-smile on his face.
With COVID restrictions, baby shrimp were no longer accessible, which left only one option for Damhof and Simply Shrimp to breed and raise their own. Enter Barb Frank, a fellow traditional animal farmer who worked in poultry husbandry for over 42 years. Upon learning about Damhof’s endeavor, she became interested in joining the work. Having faced environmental challenges in her line of work when the avian flu swept through Minnesota in 2013, Frank retired from poultry and was looking for another endeavor, ‘I know how to raise animals; “I know the science that goes with it.” Frank said. Not long after, a partnership was formed.
Today, this transformed dairy to shrimp farm looks more like a science lab than a farm or manufacturer. Six large pools reach over your head when you enter, with three or four smaller tanks with bubblers and tubes and filters running through them to your right. Behind is another room; inside here, I am reminded of a scene in the movie ‘Independence Day’ or the like: six clear cylinders with four-foot-high bubbles and containing different colored liquids. Later, I would learn that this is where the chemistry of raising algae occurs. The algae is fed to the larvae as they are nursed through all those fragile larvae life stages. This is another step the shrimp businesses have mastered, with significant support from Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI). Today, it is a smooth functioning machine.
As fascinating as this room is, we’ve have keep moving. Frank and Damhof, as well as Damhof’s son and employee, Fred Damhof, warn me that “daylight is limited. If we want to see the shrimp, we better get back there.” I pass through the next set of doors and enter the next lab area. Three pools sit on both sides of the room, for a total of six breeding pools. Lights shine down on the pools, but the timers are ticking until they turn off and darkness encompasses the room.
As I peer into the dark pool, I’m surprised. About two dozen large shrimp walk, swim and scuttle about. “It’s surprising to see them, huh?” Damhof asks, and I’m not sure why I’m surprised, but I agree! In this area, the adult shrimp, purchased from near-ocean locations on the coast, will mate. Frank takes out a red flashlight and slowly shines it on the shrimp. Looking at her and Damhof’s facial expressions, I can tell they are intently looking for something; whether or not the shrimp have mated.
This is a process that was trial and error for Minnesota Shrimp, LLC as well. It took months of laborious work months to determine how to create an oceanic atmosphere and how to build and maintain the perfect balance of shrimp water. How do you make the shrimp happy enough to mate? Damhof answers “The shrimp are the product of happy, healthy water.” As a result the shrimp of Minnesota Shrimp do mate. When explaining the process, Damhof puts his open hands, fingers stretched out, on both sides of his head. In this animated illustration, the manufacturing of baby shrimp is explained. Once the lights go out, the males will offer the female the spermatophore above his head; the female then accepts and holds it under her belly, later using it to fertilize her eggs. The red light helps Barb, Paul and Fred see her holding the clutch, and then they can determine which females are ready to move to the next pool. After 18 hours of careful monitoring, the water is drained into a surprisingly simple bucket equipped with fine mesh and transported to the ‘nursery’ pools I saw when I entered. There her tiny larvae will be raised and closely monitored by Fred until they can reach PL 12. They are then ready for sale. In the future, perhaps the near future, when all the pieces come together just right, Simply Shrimp will move these PL 12 babies into the larger pools, transport them on-site to the finishing barns, and then sell them as the freshest seafood product available in inland America.
Retreating to the main lab to give the shrimp their privacy, I see the science role that each member of this small team plays. Fred, who graduated in 2023 from Ridgewater College’s Willmar campus with a degree in Farm Operation, carefully evaluates the stages of the baby shrimp under the microscope. He showed me how to use my phone to catch a close picture of one of the larval stages. “They are fragile; we have to monitor everything from the water chemistry to the algae chemistry for them. When you lose a batch of up to 200,000 larvae, it is really disheartening,” Fred Damhof says. His father chimes in that they are a team, they all build each other up, and they are always able to motivate each other, a fact to which the numerous quotes on the wall can attest. Frank stands in front of two scales, carefully measuring different food types for the adults, including blood worms imported from Denmark, table-grade squid, and krill.
Like any animal husbandry and farm, careful calculations and close observation of behavior contribute to the success of the operation. “We watch them; are they eating their molts? What do they need?” Frank asks, picturing the shrimp pool in in the other room; today, the shrimp seem happy. The three dedicated employees of Minnesota Shrimp continue their daily tasks, watching the clock until they head back to see if the shrimp have cooperated. But before I depart, Frank turns and asks me, ‘Did you see hope in the water?’ I am a bit taken off guard by the poetic, metaphorical question coming from someone in the middle of such a scientific operation, but I ponder and quickly respond, “Oh yes, yes, I did, but not just hope; I saw the reality!” From the other side of the lab, Fred laughs, “That’s the name of the PBS special!” We all laugh together, especially myself, remembering that the inspiring Minnesota Public Television Service (PBS) special, “Hope in the Water,” is what invigorated me to visit the farm. You can view the entire series and episode 2, “Farming the Water,” at pbs.org/show/hope-in-the-water/ to learn more about the journey of Minnesota Shrimp, follow them on Facebook @SimplyShrimp LLC and on their website at www.simplyshrimpmn.com to continue to learn more and follow this product.