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Photos courtesy of Emily’s Oysters

They sell shellfish shares by the seashore: A surge of oyster CSAs

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Tuesday, April 06, 2021, 21:00 (GMT + 9)

The following is an excerpt from an article published by the Global Aquaculture Advocate:

In a pandemic, shellfish farmers find much-needed relief through community supported aquaculture programs, or CSAs

Since Michael Gilman took out his first leases in 2010, almost 100 percent of the cage-grown oysters that he produces for Indian River Shellfish were sold to restaurants and other wholesale accounts.

“Some people would come to the dock to ask about buying oysters so we set up a white board on our delipidated oyster shack where people could leave orders,” recalls Gilman. “It was just these little one-off sales, never something we counted on for income.”

The global coronavirus pandemic changed all that. At the same time restaurants closed and wholesale accounts canceled orders, calls started coming in from customers who wanted to purchase fresh shellfish, direct.

Gilman turned the oyster shack on the docks in Madison, Conn., into a makeshift retail shop, posted “oysters available” and almost overnight, Indian River Shellfish started generating most of its income from direct-to-consumer sales.

“That first Saturday we sold oysters from the dock, we sold out in under two hours,” he recalls.

Photo: indianrivershellfish

PANDEMIC PIVOT

The pandemic has forced many links of food supply chains to adapt their models. Research shows that as few as 4 percent of producers sold farmed seafood through direct-to-consumer channels before the coronavirus pandemic hit and the loss of wholesale accounts led to significant declines in revenues – in the United States, historically about two-thirds of all seafood sales are to foodservice. In Florida, shellfish aquaculture producers reported a 75 percent decline in sales due to the pandemic.

While low market demand and reduced revenues due to COVID-19 are major concerns for aquaculture operators worldwide, a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report noted, “small-scale aquaculture and fish farming operators in areas where fish imports are important may benefit from reduced competition, especially if they can secure their retail markets.”

Photo: emily’s oysters

Creative operators pivoted to direct to consumer sales, launching Community Supported Aquaculture (CSA) programs. The CSA concept is popular with land farmers who charge customers upfront, promising weekly – or biweekly – shares of the harvest throughout the season, providing a direct connection to fresh, locally grown vegetables. Aquaculture producers have copied the model, introducing customers to farmed seafood.

In the last two years, several aquaculture operations have launched community supported aquaculture programs. Little Ram Oysters, Indian River Shellfish, Emily’s Oysters and Walrus and Carpenter Oyster Farms all sell farmed oysters via CSA shares while Rolling Blue Farm operates a shrimp CSA.

Emily Selinger of Emily’s Oysters in Freeport, Maine, built her business around the CSA model.

The first season [in 2019], I only had a small amount of oysters that were big enough to sell so it didn’t make sense to strike up relationships with restaurants,” Selinger recalls. “The CSA model is well-suited to aquaculture [because] we have a good sense of how much product we have on the farm and it’s a clever way to get people to buy oysters week after week.”

Selinger offers two CSA options: Eight dozen oysters for $140 or four dozen oysters for $85. Rather than meting out shares each week, customers can request oysters as needed throughout the season. In 2019, 50 subscribers signed up for the CSA and membership has “grown a lot” since then; Selinger credits the pandemic for the boost.

In the North Fork on Long Island, N.Y., Little Ram Oyster Company generated 100 percent of its sales of farmed oysters to local restaurants and the pandemic-related closures threatened their business.

“COVID hit a year after we bought the farm and it threw a big wrench in our business plan,” admits Stefanie Bassett. “We had to start thinking creatively.”

Bassett, along with partner Elizabeth Peeples, decided to open a farm stand at their home. The pair often sold to the same customers week after week and learned that some were driving up to 90 minutes to buy oysters, fretting about getting to the farm stand before the oysters sold out. Those conversations sparked the idea to establish a CSA. (continues...)

Author: Jodi Helmer / Global Aquaculture Advocate | Read the full article by clicking the link here

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