Carp land: Economics of fish farms and the impact of region-marketing in the Aischgrund (DEU) and Barycz Valley (POL)

Abstract

The carp farmers of today face many challenges, with changing consumer habits, drought, losses of fish to avian predators and diseases presenting some of the most widespread threats. Our study has selected two European carp-farming areas as case studies: the Aischgrund in Germany and the Barycz Valley in Poland, where local stakeholders have initiated region-marketing concepts. The carp provides the core identity of these region-marketing. The region-marketing aims to boost touristic attractiveness of the regions and should indirectly support carp farmers in the strained economic situation for carp aquaculture. Notwithstanding, it is unknown, how the region-marketing effects carp farms' economics. Stakeholders were interviewed to explore the establishment and the essence of these region-marketing concepts. Focus groups of carp farmers have informed our sample of representative farms. The representative farm models enabled to compare the costs and profitability of different carp enterprises. Further, the farm models helped to explore the potential impacts and efficacy of region-marketing initiatives introduced in recent years. Our results show that the single grow-out and traditional sale of conventional fresh carp is scarcely profitable. Farmers in both regions struggle with limited options for adaptation or diversification. The difficulties are most pronounced for small-scale peasant carp farms. We consider the potential of labelling as part of region-marketing and future transfer payments that honor the contribution of carp farming to ecosystem services and cultural value (region's identity). In particular for larger-scaled carp farms, region-marketing seems to be a good means of enhancing direct marketing opportunities and generating new income sources via diversification. Highlights► The study examines the profitability of carp farms in Polish Barycz Valley and German Aischgrund. ► Representative farm models show that the economic situation of carp farmers is harsh today, in particular for smallholders. ► Fisheries Local Action Groups promote the local economy with the carp as core identity. ► It is discussed what positive impact an increased tourism has towards carp farms.

Future Socio-Political Scenarios for Aquatic Resources in Europe: An Operationalized Framework for Aquaculture Projections

“…Such additional financial burdens, however, could lead to significant longterm losses in profitability if not balanced by higher market returns (e.g., as assumed for region marketing opportunities under the National Enterprise scenario). In addition, carp farms in Germany have high opportunity costs relying on factors such as unpaid labor (i.e., employing family members), which must also be considered in the long-term (Lasner et al, 2020). On the other hand, carp farms such as the good practice farm are often combined with crop production (Lasner et al, 2020) and are, therefore, more independent from future price developments in the cereal market than assumed in the analysis.…”

“…The effect of future price trends and biological impact (harvest weight and feed conversion ratio changes) were examined for a typical Norwegian salmon farm with a production volume of 3,680 tons located in Nordland. Future price trends in combination with assumptions on subsidies and marketing options were applied to a German carp farm producing 20 tons per year, which can be seen as a good practice farm for this sector that predominantly consists of very small family owned farms (Lasner et al, 2020). In the following, we discuss the effect of different factors on profitability (market returns against cash costs without interests).…”

“…Consequently, this produced an increase in future profitability under the two local scenarios, which persisted also under unfavorable future price trends. This was attributed to the assumption that the total production volume was marketed as PGI certified carp ("Aischgründer Karpfen"), which can achieve between 15 and 30% higher returns than unlabeled carp (see Lasner et al, 2020). The opposite could be observed for the two global scenarios, where the carp farm would be less profitable when combining all future price trends and assumptions.…”

“…Furthermore, profit and infrastructural development of fish farming depends, in some cases, on public subsidies. Although public payments vary considerably among countries (Guillen et al, 2019) and between regions and species, for some production systems, subsidies can substantially contribute to overall returns (e.g., Lasner et al, 2020).…”

Fish Farmers’ Perception of Ecosystem Services and Diversification of Carp Pond Aquaculture: A Case Study from Warmia and Mazury, Poland

“…In the case of intensive trout farming, as in the case of majority of intensive forms of aquaculture in the world, the ecosystem approach consists primarily in minimizing the adverse impact on the environment [5,6]. The situation is different in the case of traditional carp pond farming, which has been developing in Central European countries for centuries [7][8][9].…”