“I have never taken a job — really from high school on,” he said. “I built up a business that produced lamb and distributed to restaurants in central Iowa. We had about 20 white cloth restaurants between Ames and Des Moines.”

It was during that venture that Kimle was introduced to shrimp production.

“I came across somebody that was producing shrimp. I bought some, tried it and convinced them to let me work for a summer, and I was interested in trying to pull in shrimp with what I was doing with these relationships with the white table cloth restaurants,” he said. “That got me into the industry and obsessed in trying to make land-based fish production happen.”

Midland Co.

-Messenger photo by Kriss Nelson
Midland Co. plans to raise 500 to 1,000 pounds of shrimp each month to month and a half. Currently, the shrimp is being sold directly to the consumer.

Kimle said he started in 2018 with a pilot scale project — working on using algae to produce fish on land.

“We went through five pilot studies trying to collect all the data we could, learn as much as we could about using algae to treat water — to be able to provide that best environment for fish,” he said.

Through those studies, Kimle said the company is now developing a technology and system for producing shrimp in Iowa.

This technology is Algae-Based RAS (recirculating aquaculture systems).

“It enables us to provide the best environment to produce the shrimp,” he said, “the cleanest water and in addition to that, not have to discharge any wastewater into the environment.”

-Messenger photo by Kriss Nelson
This is the first tank built at Midland Co.’s new facility. It is 50 feet long by 15 feet wide and holds 22,000 gallons of water.

Raising shrimp in Iowa may not necessarily be a new venture. However, the way Midland Co. is raising shrimp is unique.

“What really makes us different, what makes us scalable and cost effective in the long term and really sustainable, is everybody in land-based fish production has used bacteria to treat water,” he said. “What we have done, we have developed a system that uses algae to treat the water. That provides us the ability to capture nitrogen and phosphorus and CO2 that those shrimp are excreting and to add back oxygen that goes back to the shrimp. It provides this symbiotic relationship, versus what we see with bacterial treatment of water.”

Kimle said they moved to their location in Story City last year and the first tank was built. The 22,000 gallon, 50-foot-long by 15-foot-wide tank is up and running.

“We are currently in production mode,” he said. “The shrimp are currently growing. We have been taking pre-sale orders and have a lot of folks signed up on our shrimp waiting list.”

Currently those orders are being filled.

“People are excited enough to sign up before we even have put any shrimp out the door,” he said.

Looking toward 2021, Kimle said they are planning to produce 500 to 1,000 pounds of shrimp every month to month and a half, with more plans for expansion.

“Eventually, we will be at closer to an 80,000 to 100,000 pounds per year at this facility,” he said.

So far, Kimle said they are primarily selling the shrimp by direct-to-consumer sales. He added that orders will range from one to 15 pounds going to individuals in central Iowa.

Eventually he is planning on selling shrimp to restaurants and seafood distributors.

Why shrimp?

Midland Co. is bringing a product that is hard to find in Iowa.

“In Iowa, it is extremely unlikely you are going to find fresh shrimp,” said Kimle. “This is probably going to be one of the very few spots, other than a little bit of Gulf shrimp that is occasionally available; there isn’t much fresh shrimp available.”

The United States, Kimle said, imports a billion and a half pounds of shrimp and 99.9% of that comes frozen.

He said fresh shrimp offers a whole different taste compared to frozen shrimp.

“As far as flavor, fresh shrimp has really sweet, nice, almost lobsteresque flavor,” he said. “You get that sweet flavor — a much bolder flavor and the texture is extremely tender. When it is cooked correctly, it is really nice.”

A new livestock in Iowa?

Kimle said shrimp production leaves an interesting platform and opportunity to grow a new industry in Iowa.

“Iowans are really good at animal husbandry and at raising cost-effective protein production,” he said. “The U.S. is buying $7 billion of shrimp per year of imports alone. Why wouldn’t we look at opportunities to try to produce that here? There is a huge opportunity here, and why don’t we take the skills we have shown what we can do in Iowa and have it be our aquaculture in general? Not just shrimp — have it be our next billion dollar industry.”

Kimle said he would like to deploy his system in a similar fashion as the swine and poultry industries and use contract growing.

“I am trying to provide a new industry and a diversification of agriculture and opportunities that could provide for farmers long term,” he said. “The way we envision it is farmers that are interested in diversifying their operation can invest in building a facility and we can get them the seed stock and more.”

For more information, visit Midland Co.’s website at www.midlandseafood.com.