Oxford family looks for big things from Kansas shrimp farming

Following the death of his father in 2012, Bob Daniels knew it was time for a career change.

After years of growing crops in Sedgwick County, his next move was one that would be obvious to any Kansas farmer – he decided to move from his hometown of Valley Center to start a shrimp farm.

After recently receiving its first shipment from a nursery in Indiana – yes, Indiana – the Sunflower Shrimp farm just south of Oxford could be open for business as soon as July if all goes according to plan.

“What we’re doing is growing shrimp indoors … in Kansas,” Daniels said. “We’re going to go a little bit slower until we really know what we’re doing.”

Essentially, Daniels said, the family-run operation will provide a tightly isolated environment for the shrimp to grow. The shrimp are now growing in an insulated pole barn, specially built for the business and complete with several 14-foot swimming pools filled with closely-monitored oxygenated water.

“Shrimp are saltwater organisms,” Daniels said. “We add salt – about 450 pounds per pool – and bacteria to the water. We’re actually growing water, too.”

“We can grow a higher density (of shrimp) than what would grow in the ocean.”

Controlling the indoor habitat includes controlling the air temperature, moisture levels and lighting – all important details when raising shrimp, he said.

The 40-by-90-foot facility looks the part of a high-tech operation, with a mechanical room and boiler, laboratory area that resembles a chemistry classroom, and lobby that will double as the business’ store front.

The idea

Daniels’ father, Robert Sr., found out he had cancer in 2012, and survived only a few months after the diagnosis.

Now 53, Daniels knew then it wasn’t possible to keep going as a grain farmer, something he had done for about three decades. Aquaculture was something his father had long been interested in.

Looking for a fresh start – for practical and emotional reasons – Daniels said he knew what he had to do.

“My dad and I were pretty close,” Daniels said. “I remember when I was young, him and me were going fishing, and he pulled out this yellow box of frozen shrimp that he said were going to be used as bait. We were out fishing that day, and he pulls the box out again and says, ‘We can grow these.’

“I was confused. I said I thought shrimp grew in the ocean. I asked him why we would want to grow shrimp anyway, and he said, ‘I want to feed the world.’ ”

As of this month, three pools were in operation, each home to 2,500 shrimp. Daniels said the initial batch will take about three months to grow to harvest size, which is a few inches long.

At least initially, Sunflower Shrimp won’t feed the world – the Daniels family has no current plans to sell to restaurants or on a wholesale basis – but the family doesn’t expect to struggle finding customers once word gets out.

Middle America shrimp farming

Sunflower will be one of the first shrimp farms in Kansas, though others in the region have popped up lately.

John Hodder, who started raising shrimp in 2013 and owns Kansas Aquaponics Shrimp Harvesters in Silver Lake, said he think he was the first shrimp farmer in the state.

Missouri resident Rick Clymer and his family started the Circle Sea Shrimp Farm near the small town of Stella about a year ago. Even though the business doesn’t advertise, Clymer said the operation in southwest Missouri is busy enough that orders are backed up until June.

“We have a few empty tanks now because of demand, but we would usually have about 60,000 shrimp,” Clymer said. “We’ve been marking them out as fast as we can get them big enough.

“As of now, we have much greater demand than what we can produce.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there were 56 saltwater shrimp farms operating in the country as of 2013, the most-recent numbers available.

In Oxford, Deb Daniels, Bob’s wife, works in pharmaceutical sales during the day, but helps out whenever she can, as do her parents and the couple’s two grown children.

Bob and Deb’s daughter, Nikki Daniels, completed her senior marketing thesis at the University of Arkansas on indoor shrimp farming in May. The 35-page paper is titled “The Future of Shrimp: Why Indoor Tank Farming Could Revolutionize the Industry.”

“The cool thing about the water is that the only things added are bacteria at the beginning, food, baking soda and salt,” Nikki Daniels said. “There are no other chemicals added – these are clean shrimp. I’m really excited.”

Nikki Daniels traveled back to Kansas from Arkansas, where she is attending graduate school, for the arrival of the first shipment of shrimp and will continue to help out on weekends and when she can. Bob and Deb’s son, Bobby, lives in the Kansas City area, also is helping when he can.

“Our business plan is that we’re going to sell a high-value, quality product,” Bob Daniels said. “We’re not going to … try to go head-to-head with a big store.

“This will be a fresh, head-on, shell-on product right from our farm.”

Room to grow

The plan is to eventually expand the operation on the 11-acre site, which is located just south of Oxford and about a 15-minute drive from the Kansas Turnpike.

Depending on how things go, Bob Daniels said several more buildings could go up. Deb Daniels said changing careers in his 50s hasn’t been completely easy for her husband, but she said she’s proud of how he has followed through on her father-in-law’s dream.

“He’s done a lot of research,” Deb Daniels said. “I’ve been so impressed. When we were looking to relocate, I assumed we would be house hunting for months. This was maybe the fifth place we visited, and as soon as he walked the property for the first time, he said, ‘This is where I’m going to grow shrimp.’

“We visited a couple shrimp places, which I thought were pretty basic, but what we have now is much more involved than what I would have imagined.”

Whether it’s checking the pH levels in the tanks or documenting humidity levels in the building, Bob Daniels said his father is never far from his thoughts.

“Dad used to have a saying that I think he got from Albert Einstein,” Bob Daniels said. “He used to say that people who never make mistakes have never tried something new.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 3:13 PM with the headline "Oxford family looks for big things from Kansas shrimp farming."