4 Great Tips for Buying an Oyster Farm
Becoming an oyster farmer or investing in oyster farming is a great choice! Oysters along with seaweed farming is the most sustainable form of aquaculture. In fact growing oysters is not just sustainable; by growing oysters we create an economic reason to conserve the environment and our coastal lifestyle.
Plus you will never regret working on the water or sampling your delicious shellfish with a cold beverage and good friends!
1) Location
I am often asked where to buy an oyster farm? What river or estuary produces the best oysters or is less risky. The best advice I can give is to buy a farm somewhere you want to live or visit. All oyster growing estuaries have there pros and cons and your farm management and cultivation method will be tailored to get the best results. So the first starting point is choosing a place you have a connection with and the rest will follow.
2) A Clean Farm
The oyster industry has under gone rapid change in the last ten years, with exciting new cultivation methods and management systems now available. Unfortunately most farms are behind the times or in a process of change. WIWO (walk in walk out) farms are not ideal. It can be very costly and time consuming to clear leases of old infrastructure (this is an unforeseen cost for new buyers). If you can, your best option is to purchase leases and land bases that are ‘clean’ of any historic cultivation infrastructure so you can invest in modern and more efficient farming systems.
3) Buy Stock Separately
Stock often makes up a large percentage of the total farm sale price. However when buying a farm it is recommended that you purchase stock separately. Even the best quality stock can become marine fouled over a shot period of time, decreasing the value of the stock. Also unless the farm uses a real time farm management system like SmartOysters, it is impossible to know the actual volume and quality of stock on leases. The best bet is to ask the outgoing farmer to harvest, grade and sell the stock to you at market rates - do this independently of the purchase of leases and land base so you are not committed to buying poor quality oysters.
4) Smart Planning
Before you invest consider how you want to run your farm. You may want to be an owner operator, employ a farm manager or invest in the OysterLife Share Farm Model. The business model you choose will inform the size, scale and requirements of the farm you buy and how you manage it. Owner operator farms generally have a smaller scope and scale, and can be quite profitable producing as much as 35,000 dozen with casual help. Farm Manager models must operate on a larger scale, producing greater than 60,000 dozen to generate sufficient turnover and efficiencies to cover wage costs. The Oyster Life Share Farm Model is much more flexible providing efficiencies and benefits of scale without requiring a large capital investment or day-to-day operational involvement by the owner. Any way you want to oyster farm the trick is to do some smart planning so your money is used to drive the business forward from the beginning.
And there you have it our four tips to get you oyster farming!! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at Oyster Life Management. Our goal is to see more people investing in this great industry and we will use our combined expertise to ensure your oyster farm is productive, profitable and benefits the environment and your community!
Ewan McAsh
Farmer, Founder & GM of Oyster Life Management