Canada's first land raised Atlantic salmon enters the market
British Columbia-based Kuterra Farm has successfully brought salmon to land, but can it persuade shoppers to pay a 20-30% premium for a more environmentally friendly–and, it says, superior-tasting product?
The Namgis First Nations-owned producer announced this week its first harvest of land-raised Atlantic salmon is being sold in 140 Safeway stores throughout British Columbia and Alberta.
Kuterra and another land-based Atlantic salmon producer, Atlantic Sapphire, are currently in the process of being assessed for a SeaChoice ranking, which uses recommendations from the Monterey Bay Aquarium to help Canadian consumers and businesses make informed decisions on the best seafood choices. A decision is expected in June.
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Safeway has exclusive sales rights to the land-raised salmon for one year, as well as subsequent first right of refusal, says Guy Dean, vice-president of import and export for Albion Fisheries, a Vancouver-based company that handles marketing and sales for several seafood producers including Kuterra.
Kuterra’s facility is an alternative to the ocean-based saltwater net pens that account for nearly all of the estimated 96,000 metric tonnes of Atlantic Salmon produced annually by B.C. and New Brunswick. It uses fresh water-based systems where variables such as water temperature, water flow and oxygen levels are all controlled. An estimated 99% of the water in the Kuterra systems is also re-circulated.
Dean says that land-raised salmon possesses several unique attributes: It doesn’t pollute the marine environment; is free of sea lice; and is not treated with pesticides or antibiotics.
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“For those people that are concerned about the environment, those are positive attributes,” said Dean. “It covers a lot of bases on what consumers make decisions on outside of quality and taste.”
In blind taste tests comparing land-raised salmon to open net pen-raised fish, consumers indicated that the former has a milder, less fishy flavour, while its higher fat content contributes to a more buttery feel and flavour.
“We think we have achieved the texture and the flavour that consumers and chefs want,” says Kuterra spokeperson Jo Mrozewski. “We’re very optimistic – the demand seems to be there.”
Kuterra has invested between $9-10 million over the past four years to get its land-based system up and running. Mrozewski said it expects to produce 470 metric tonnes of salmon with its first module, ramping up to between 2,000 to 3,000 tonnes when all five of its modules are operational.
According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canada is the fourth largest salmon-producing nation in the world behind Norway, Chile and the United Kingdom. Atlantic salmon had a farm-gate value – a product’s value when it is sold by the producer – of $607 million in 2011.