If you watched the PBS docuseries Hope in the Water , you may remember us as the Minnesota shrimp farmers featured in Episode 2, “Farming the Water."

Our work is something pretty rare: shrimp farming in the American Midwest, raised responsibly on land and supplying farms across the region.

But right now, our hatchery—and the nine farms that depend on it—are facing a crisis that could shut down an entire emerging industry.

Our hatchery, Minnesota Shrimp, is one of the only suppliers of shrimp post-larvae (PLs) in the continental United States. Farmers in Iowa, Wisconsin, Montana, and Minnesota rely on these larvae to stock their systems. Without our hatchery, their farms cannot operate.

Earlier this year, a shipment of broodstock—the adult shrimp used to produce larvae—arrived with the wrong genetics and failed to spawn. Replacement broodstock is on the way, but it will take several weeks before they mature and begin producing larvae.

That leaves our hatchery with 4–6 weeks with no income, while the facility still has to run and farmers wait for larvae.

If we cannot stay open during this period, those farms will lose their season. At the same time, the only other hatchery supplying post-larvae in the continental United States shut down earlier this week, leaving us as the only remaining source for these farms.

We are raising $100,000 to keep the hatchery operating until the new broodstock matures and larvae production resumes later this summer.

Your support will help cover:

• Hatchery operating costs

• Staff and essential facility expenses

• Keeping shrimp larvae production alive in the United States

• Supporting farmers across the region who depend on this hatchery

If you believe in sustainable seafood and supporting American farmers, please donate or share this campaign.

Watch a 3-minute video about our shrimp farm here:

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A Letter from Paul and Barb:

We started Minnesota Shrimp in 2020 with loans provided by the Mid Minnesota Development Commission and the Southwest Initiative Fund.

As we shared in the docuseries, It has taken much longer to bring the inland saltwater shrimp hatchery online than we initially anticipated. Over the past several years, we have funded the hatchery with our own private savings and worked without pay because we believe a stable source of post-larvae is essential if a United States shrimp industry is going to survive.

After years of investment, in mid-2025 we had our first profitable month. With the help of a consultant from Colombia who has spent decades in the shrimp industry, we developed the standard operating procedures needed to run an inland hatchery from the ground up. By September of 2025, things were finally looking positive.

Then in November, our largest customer went bankrupt. We were paid for the larvae they had already shipped, but not for two batches that were already in production. This was our first major set back.

The second came in January 2026, We purchased broodstock from our supplier. The supplier maintains two genetic lines—one that works well for us and one that does not. Unfortunately, the wrong genetics were shipped to us. We have tried to make them work, but they simply do not spawn successfully. This meant that we had no supply to sell to the farmers, most of them new to the industry, that needed them to grow out and sell.

This week we will be receiving replacement broodstock but it will take weeks to bring them to maturation, which means once again, we are looking at a significant time with no income.

The good news is that shrimp farming is beginning to grow across the Midwest. We currently supply farmers in Iowa, Wisconsin and Montana. Without our Larvae, they will go out of business. That doesn't include the others that are building new systems that will need larvae later this year. These farms have no source of post-larvae. That is because earlier this week the only other hatchery supplying the continental United States shut down.

We have run out of resources to keep the hatchery operating during this gap. The future of a United States shrimp industry is at stake. All of us simply need Minnesota Shrimp to survive.

Thank you for helping us keep this work alive.

— Barb Frank and Paul Damhof