WILLMAR—A unique working relationship between a former dairy farmer from Blomkest, two former poultry farmers from Danube and a high-tech engineering company in Willmar could produce the first commercial-scale saltwater shrimp to be born, raised and processed in Minnesota.

There are some moving pieces to the puzzle to fit together yet, but the picture looks promising.

“Everyone’s watching to see what happens,” said Becky Bruns, who is nearly done upgrading equipment at her farm-raised shrimp business, Shrimp Shop, in rural Danube.

“We’re just having fun,” said Paul Damhof, who started growing and selling shrimp in his converted dairy barn in 2017 at his wildly successful business, Simply Shrimp. Although it’s been shut down since COVID, Damhof is planning to build a new shrimp-growing operation next year and intends to install equipment recently developed by Nova-Tech Engineering in Willmar that can remove the veins, heads, legs and shells from fresh, market-ready shrimp.

Read the full article by the West Central Tribune.