Like agricultural crops, the growth of fish depends on the weather. If it's too cold or too hot, the fish won't eat and that throws off the growth and marketing cycle. Unlike agricultural crops, the fish take about 18 months to mature for harvesting. The long growth cycle effects the way fish farmers finance their debts.
Agricultural crops get government subsidies.
The catfish cycle is longer. With water temperatures over 100 degrees last summer, the fish didn't eat, and with the cold fall and spring they went into a torpid state. So this year's fish are smaller. The price will be lower this year partly because the fish are smaller and partly from competition from the Vietnamese fish industry, Hastings says. He expects to sell fish four times during the next six months, taking stock out of inventory during the winter months.