Russ Allen walks through a series of aluminum-sided barns, keeping watch over thousands of swimming creatures with antennae, skinny legs and bugeyes. To some, they’re next week’s dinner. To Allen, they’re vertebrae in Michigan’s economic backbone.

“We’re a new industry,” said Allen, president of Seafood Systems and owner of the Shrimp Farm Market. “Where else can you go to find a track record of indoor shrimp farming?”

Wedged between horse farms and suburban developments on the western edge of Okemos, the pilot research facility is the first shrimp farm in Michigan. It’s an industry hatching in tanks the size of backyard pools, and one that, Allen claimed, could be a multi-billion-dollar-a-year commercial enterprise with thousands of jobs.

“This is a story that addresses Michigan today,” said Allen. “It says what we want and what we need. Now all we need is a mechanism to get it.”

Coming home

Allen returned to Michigan in 1990 after 20 years of successful shrimp farming in Latin America.

He came back to his stomping grounds, he said, for the public education his kids could get in the United States. He returned, too, with a vision of bringing commercial indoor shrimp farming to a state with 20 percent of the world’s fresh water.

“It was a challenge coming back,” said the 50-something Allen, adding he’d never held a job in the U.S. “But I was willing to start the research to see if we could farm shrimp here.”

Fourteen years of study, application and a successful farmer’s market proves it can be done.

“It’s been a long research effort, but we’ve developed the best way to farm shrimp in the world,” said Allen of a method that is environmentally friendly, bio-secure and technologically advanced.

Even more so, Allen’s indoor method is economical and efficient. Compared to outdoor shrimp farming, Allen’s pilot farm can produce a half-million pounds per year per acre—as opposed to 2,000 to 4,000-pounds for a typical outdoor farm.

“Now the challenge is to go from where we’re at with successful technology to creating a successful commercial farm,” said Allen.

Schools of thought

Allen’s track record in Latin America proves he’s a world leader in his field.      A University of Michigan graduate, Allen pioneered shrimp farming in Ecuador. In 10 years, the country’s export of 100,000 pounds per year grew to 210 million pounds—yielding nearly $1 billion in income.

Allen spawned similar success in Belize where he built that country’s first independent shrimp farm.

Demand also paints a convincing argument for Allen’s venture into Michigan markets.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Americans consume an average of 4.4 pounds of seafood per person annually. With U.S. shrimp farmers meeting just 1 to 2 percent of that demand, imports have skyrocketed to nearly 1.3 billion pounds a year.  China is a major supplier.

“We have a tremendous opportunity right here in Michigan,” said Allen, mentioning that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned the importation of Chinese shrimp earlier this summer. “We have the chance to replace those imports from China, and continue to meet demand.”

A marriage of convenience could also be in the making between the state’s ethanol producers and shrimp farmers.

A nutritious shrimp food, Allen said, can be created from dry distiller grains left over from ethanol production. With seven or more ethanol plants in the works across Michigan, and with food conversion rate for shrimp being just .7 pounds of feed for one pound of shrimp, Allen’s shrimp could be the most well—and cheapest-fed in the U.S.

“That’s cheaper than for any other farm animal,” said Allen “be it a turkey, a cow, a pig or a chicken.”

With feed being much of a farm’s operating cost, the availability of inexpensive grain promises to keep the cost of shrimp down, further contributing to the feasibility of Allen’s venture.

“We’ve demonstrated this is a viable operation,” said Allen. “And we opened a retail market to define who our customers might be.”

To date, that market has been a huge success. Open on Fridays and Saturdays, the market sells all sizes of shrimp, from small to super jumbo, with prices ranging from $6 to $20 a pound.

“People love our product,” said Allen. “Anyone who would drive way out here obviously does.”