ABSTRACT
Studies on the economics of catfish foodfish production have been limited primarily to budgets and production function analysis. Risk programming has been used to assess the economics of aeration in catfish production and to select optimal mixes of catfish hatchery products, and linear programming has been used to analyze various catfish production and marketing systems. This chapter evaluates alternative catfish pond management strategies from an economic perspective. Average catfish prices from 1986 to 1989, as reported by USDA, were utilized. The Catfish Bargaining Association was formed in 1989 to provide a mechanism for producers and processors to negotiate farm-gate prices. The primary goal of the Association was to stabilize prices and to reduce seasonality of catfish prices paid to farmers. Uniform year-round pricing resulting from the Catfish Bargaining Association will exacerbate the incentive to harvest and sell all fish in the fall because the Bargaining Association has reduced the fall-spring price differential.
