Soybean shippers see U.S. aquaculture research funds

Soybean shippers see U.S. aquaculture research funds    The American Soybean Association on Thursday said it supports the Obama administration's budget request for aquaculture research, which could subsequently increase demand for soybean meal in aquafeed.
   'Soybeans play a key role in building a U.S. aquaculture industry to meet growing consumer demand for safe, healthy seafood,' said ASA President Johnny Dobson, in a statement.
   The U.S. Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration requested a $2 million increase for aquaculture research.
   Currently, more than 80 percent of the seafood Americans eat is imported, and at least half of those imports are farmed seafood. Major aquaculture-exporting countries are China, India and Vietnam.
   Since 1992, U.S. soybean farmers have supported market development activities, mostly in China, through the ASA's international marketing activities with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service and the soybean checkoff. This program has increased demand for soybean meal for farm-raised fish from almost zero to about 5.5 million metric tons a year, the ASA said.
   The St. Louis-based association also noted that aquaculture is the world's fastest growing form of food production, and most of this growth is offshore or overseas. Seafood imports are the second biggest contributor to the U.S. trade deficit at more than $9 billion a year, the ASA said.
   'With increasing seafood demand and declining capture fisheries, global aquaculture production will have to increase 500 percent by the year 2025 to meet the projected needs of a world population of 8.5 billion people,' Dobson said. 'We'd like to see the United States capture its share of this growing market.'