Small and medium-scale fish farmers in the Midwest are looking for opportunities to utilize local processing facilities to diversify their product offerings and boost their farm profitability. The COVID-19 virus has stressed this need. Commercial kitchens and on-farm fish processing plants are two potential facility types for fish processing. Commercial kitchen facilities are available across the region and are ideal for new or expanding small food businesses that do not have the financial resources to invest in a processing facility.
By venturing into processing, potential opportunities for fish farmers include supplying processed fish products to their community; stimulating new fish product development; improving the diversity of local aquaculture products; increasing sales of local aquaculture products; increasing awareness of supply and access to local aquaculture products; and increasing consumption of local aquaculture products. Bridging the gap between the farmers’ desire to process fish and the demand for a suitable place to process fish and other aquaculture products is the task we face.
We aim to understand the feasibility of starting a fish processing business from local facilities using a “PEST” analysis approach. “PEST” stands for Political, Economic, Social, and Technological factors that need to be considered in market analysis. It is a concept in market research that companies use as a tool to track their operating environment or the environment they are planning to launch a new product or service in. The states of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio are chosen as case studies because they belong to the North Central Region, whose aquaculture industry lacks processing facilities. By conducting a PEST analysis for these states, we discover political, economic, socioeconomic, and technological factors that would affect the feasibility of aquaculture processing. We also generate maps and frameworks regarding the location, function, and cost of seafood processing facilities available in the three states to help fish farmers’ decision making. Lastly, a financial analysis is provided to help fish farmers develop individual strategic plans.
The research results will help fish farmers understand what it takes to process fish and other aquaculture products in commercial kitchens and/or in on-farm processing facilities to supply their local markets.