When Dallas County farmer David Pearce called to order the first meeting of the Alabama Farmers Federation’s Catfish Division in September 1974, he couldn’t have imagined how much Alabama’s aquaculture industry would grow over the next 30 years.At that time, Alabama farmers produced fewer than 400,000 pounds of catfish a year with a farm value of about $150,000. Today, Alabama ranks second in the nation in catfish production with 122 million pounds in annual sales valued at $76 million.”It’s far exceeded what I thought it would be,” said Pearce, 56, who operates 1,425 acres of catfish ponds with his wife, Fran, and sons, David Jr., 32, and Will, 30. “When we started (in 1971), catfish production was about 5-6 million pounds per year, industry wide. “The industry has grown because there were people who had foresight and vision, and because there were innovative farmers who developed the farming practices and invented the equipment we still use today,” added Pearce. “The individual spirit and toughness that most catfish farmers have–the drive to make something work even when they’ve gone without sleep–is something you don’t find in many endeavors in life.”Pearce’s father-in-law, Dallas County veterinarian and cattle producer William Weissinger, was one of the first to realize the potential of farm-raised catfish. In the mid 1960s, Weissinger converted 40 acres of bass and bream fish-out ponds to catfish production, based on the recommendation of catfish farming pioneer and former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee O.L. Green.Pearce graduated from Auburn University in 1970 and returned to Dallas County with his new wife where he opened a dairy and managed the catfish ponds in partnership with Weissinger. Pearce gave up dairy farming seven years later. By that time, he had dissolved his partnership with his father-in-law, and Alabama’s catfish industry was doubling in size every few years.”I just didn’t feel like dairy farming had the future that catfish did,” Pearce recalled. “It seemed like a natural use of the land over here (in west Alabama), and it was something that appeared to have a competitive advantage over other areas of the country. The industry grew because of a combination of the profit potential of catfish and the declining profit potential of other agriculture commodities.”Another factor that contributed to the rapid expansion of catfish farming in west Alabama was the establishment of processing plants in the area, Pearce said. The first plant to process farm-raised catfish, Stral Co., was built in Greensboro in 1967 by Joe Glover Sr., Richard True and C.O. Stephens. Today, west Alabama is home to three of the nation’s largest catfish processors, Southern Pride Catfish in Greensboro and Demopolis, Harvest Select Catfish in Uniontown and SouthFresh in Eutaw.Thirty years ago, however, catfish farming was still relatively new to Alabama. Pearce and other farmers organized the Alabama Catfish Producers Association in 1972, but it wasn’t until the group affiliated with the Alabama Farmers Federation in 1974 that the state’s emerging catfish industry started getting the attention of politicians, researchers and consumers.Federation Catfish Director Jimmy Carlisle said some of the division’s early leaders were Pearce, Neal Miller, J.V. Friday, Lenson Montz, A.A. Middleton, Joe Kyser, Bill Kyser, Thed Spree and Bill Easterling, “to name only a few.””The first set of minutes from the Catfish Division reflects the enthusiasm and dedication these gentlemen had for the industry,” Carlisle said. “Almost immediately, they scheduled a catfish tour and a catfish field day at Auburn University. They also discussed the need for Alabama to pass a catfish-labeling law, and they proposed starting a voluntary checkoff program to fund education, research and promotional activities.”Over the years, the Federation’s Catfish Division (known simply as Alabama Catfish Producers) has made numerous contributions to the growth of the industry, Pearce said. “It has provided a forum for farmers to communicate with each other, and the stories that have been done about both the division and individual catfish operations have helped catfish gain a good perception in the eyes of the American public,” he said. “The Federation’s involvement in governmental affairs helped get catfish farmers recognized as ‘farmers’ by USDA, and we were able to get out in front of the EPA’s waste discharge regulations by doing studies that showed we are an environmentally friendly industry.”Pearce praised the leadership provided by Carlisle as well as Federation Commodity Director Jim Cravey and former Catfish Division Director Jack McGaughy. In addition, he said the close relationship catfish producers developed with researchers at Auburn University led to scientific advancements that helped farmers improve their management practices.One of the most important milestones for Alabama’s catfish industry occurred in 1989 when farmers overwhelmingly approved a $2-per-ton of feed checkoff program. The checkoff amount was later lowered to 50 cents when The Catfish Institute (TCI) implemented a $5-per-ton national checkoff program.Carlisle, who manages the Alabama checkoff, said the amount of feed produced and used in Alabama is a good indication of how the industry has grown. “In 1990, the first full year the checkoff program was in effect, Alabama feed mills produced almost 66,000 tons of feed for Alabama catfish farms,” said Carlisle. “Last year, they produced almost 230,000 tons. We’ve seen the catfish industry in this state almost quadruple in the last 15 years.”Since the formation of TCI, Alabama Catfish Producers has used a majority of the state’s checkoff dollars to fund research. That research led to the development of the first vaccines for catfish diseases as well as management practices that improve water quality. Meanwhile, TCI’s promotion efforts have increased per capita consumption of catfish by introducing the versatile fish to chefs and shoppers in other parts of the country.Pearce, who is a member of the executive committee and past president of Catfish Farmers of America (CFA), currently serves as vice chairman of TCI. He also is president of the producer-owned Alabama Catfish Feedmill LLC in Uniontown.He said America’s farm-raised catfish producers have been so successful in promoting their product that other countries have exploited the popularity of farm-raised catfish by mislabeling other fish species as “catfish” and dumping them on the U.S. market. In recent years, CFA and the Alabama Catfish Producers have led the effort to stop this illegal dumping and pass truth-in-labeling laws. Despite having some success, heavily subsidized Vietnamese fish is still finding its way into American restaurants and grocery stores.”The promotion efforts that we paid for is one reason Vietnam was able to sell its fish in the U.S. when they labeled it as ‘catfish,'” Pearce said. “They were taking advantage of the marketing and promotion work we’ve been doing for the past 30 years.”Pearce said the influx of foreign fish makes TCI’s job even more important today than it was a decade ago. “We’ve got to educate the public that we have the safest seafood available, because it is grown in a safe environment and processed in a federally inspected plant,” he said. “We’ll never have that assurance from an imported product–in my opinion.”Increased competition from imported fish and the rapid expansion of U.S. farm-raised catfish has caused live catfish prices to drop in recent years–making it more difficult for farms to remain profitable. “The catfish industry is in the process of contracting,” Pearce said. “Imports and other species have taken some of our market, and that has forced some farmers out of business–more so in Arkansas and Mississippi than in Alabama. Eventually, the industry will shrink back to whatever level of production it takes for the surviving feedmills, processors and farmers to operate at a profitable level. We can start growing slowly again after that.”Despite the current challenges facing the farm-raised catfish industry, Pearce is optimistic. Sons David Jr. and Will now handle most of the day-to-day management of Pearce Catfish Farm Inc., and Pearce hopes one day his grandchildren, Jackson, 4, and Mary Ashlyn, 2, will have an opportunity to work in the business.”There is a future here, but like every other business, it gets more competitive every year,” Pearce said. “They (David Jr. and Will) will have to figure out what they can do to lower their cost of production. You can’t stand still in this business. You’re always moving–one way or the other.”