The Other “Culture”

When one envisions the act of growing food, amber waves of grain most often come to mind. From the endless orange groves of Florida to the towering corn stalks of Iowa, most of us believe that when it comes to crops, the only kind of “culture” is agriculture. It turns out, that’s not the whole story.

Unless you live in a coastal area, you may never have heard of aquaculture. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), aquaculture is the “breeding, rearing and harvesting of plants and animals in all types of water environments, including ponds, rivers, lakes, and the ocean.”

While the U.S. only ranks 13th in the $70 billion worldwide aquaculture market, we still produce $1 billion a year of oysters, clams and mussels. Seeing how you can’t just “plant” an oyster in the ground like wheat seed, special technologies are needed to grow the shellfish Americans love to eat. One of the main growing techniques is the use of aquacultural seed bags. These bags are made from polyester mesh, which varies in size and holes per foot, due to the different sizes of shellfish. Though methods of growing differ slightly for different species, farmers generally will fill bags with seeds and then submerge the bags in either salt or freshwater. This allows for a controlled growth of the shellfish, while protecting them from predators and environmental factors.

At Jason Mills, we offer four different aquaculture seed bags, all of which are made from industry-standard 100% polyester seed bag material. Moreover, while our bags are perfect for growing a large variety of aquaculture products, they are also used in institutional settings like prisons and hospitals.

When you dig into your next plate of oysters, just know that there is a good chance they were farm-raised using one of our high-quality seed bags. So enjoy and let us know how they taste!

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