Veterans starting Pierz shrimp farm

PIERZ – Kevin Smude is already being jokingly compared to Forrest Gump.

After a pair of deployments to Iraq, the 13-year Army National Guard veteran is in the process of starting his own shrimp company — just like the fictional Vietnam War veteran character, played by Tom Hanks, did in the critically acclaimed 1994 movie.

"There's such a high demand for shrimp. It's the No. 1 seafood in the United States," explains Smude, a Hillman native who is the first cousin to the Smude Sunflower Oil owner.

"It just makes a lot of sense."

Smude is setting up a 16-tank saltwater shrimp farm called Four Seasons Shrimp Co. with fellow military veteran Joel Fischer.

They broke ground on the 507 Industrial Park Road facility in Pierz at a ceremony March 23 and are set to lay concrete this week. The 6,000-square-foot facility that will be able to produce about 800 pounds of shrimp a month is scheduled to open this fall.

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"There's already been so much interest and demand," said Smude, who grew up on a farm. "The response has been overwhelming."

Smude said the facility will raise shrimp for both retail and wholesale. They've already discussed partnering with Coborn's and multiple restaurants.

But how does one raise shrimp in Central Minnesota, several hundred miles away from an ocean?

Four Seasons will acquire 11-day-old shrimp from a Florida hatchery. The shrimp will spend 25 days in a Four Seasons nursery before being moved to a feeding tank for four months.

The water is filtered multiple times and is controlled by a Zero Exchange Aerobic Heterotrophic System that keeps all details of the water as close as possible to shrimp's natural habitat (sans any pollutants).

The tank water will be monitored multiple times a day.

Four Seasons' system is modeled after those Smude visited in Indiana and Elgin, a city in southern Minnesota.

"It's been a lot of reading and research," Smude said.

A lot of emphasis has been put on the shrimp feed. Smude said the shrimp will feast on a high-protein, high-mineral diet and pledged to avoid the use of hormones, chemicals and antibiotics.

Some foreign commercial shrimp farms have faced scrutiny for using animal feces and chemicals as feed.

Smude said each shrimp will weigh about 0.8 ounce — 20 shrimp per pound.

"We are just super excited to get started," Smude said. "I've been searching for a business for quite a while. This is something that's fresh and local and I like that."

Follow Jake Laxen on Twitter @jacoblaxen.