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CapitalPress.com
January 9, 2015
People & Places
Diversification brings fish farmer success
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Fate seems to have played
a major role in the life of aqua-
culture entrepreneur Leo Ray,
but tenacity, business acumen
and hard work brought him
success.
Ray’s college life at Uni-
versity of Oklahoma began
with a focus on wildlife con-
servation, switched direction
to geology and finally settled
on invertebrate zoology. But
it was a job in college that
would inevitably influence his
career path.
A professor at the universi-
ty had received a grant to re-
search the reproductive cycle
of catfish and the hormones
that control their reproduction
and offered Ray a job working
on the project. The research
would lead to the develop-
ment of the catfish industry,
Ray said.
After graduating in 1963,
Ray taught high school for six
years. But he kept in contact
with the professor and when
the catfish industry began
developing, he quit teaching,
bought land in California’s
Imperial Valley and opened a
catfish farm.
Fate stepped in again when
in 1971 Ray delivered a load
of catfish fingerlings to a fish
farm with a geothermal well
near Twin Falls, Idaho.
“I saw the value of that hot
water” and set his sights on
Idaho, he said.
He worked on a fish farm
in south-central Idaho for
about a year, bought land and
he and his wife opened their
own operation — Fish Breed-
ers of Idaho — in the Hager-
man Valley in 1973.
The operation started with
106 acres of Snake River
frontage, which Ray got for
a bargain at $300 an acre.
People wondered why in the
world he wanted to purchase
a rock field with water too hot
to drink, he said.
“It was perfect for a fish
farm,” he said.
Ray recognized the poten-
tial of the geothermal water
and concrete raceways and
switched his management from
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Entire contents copyright © 2015
EO Media Group
dba Capital Press
An independent newspaper
published every Friday.
Capital Press (ISSN 0740-3704) is
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Leo Ray stands alongside a ditch near his fish processing facility in Hagerman, Idaho. Sturgeon keep the water clear of vegetation.
Western Innovator
Leo Ray
Age: 77
Business: Fish Breeders of Idaho
Inc., Fish Processors Inc., Big Bend
Trout Inc.
Products: Catfish, trout, tilapia, sturgeon, white sturgeon caviar
and tropical fish
Operation: 350 acres, five sites, Hagerman and Buhl, Idaho
Employees: 25 to 30
Background: Grew up on a small farm in Marshall, Okla.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in zoology, University of Oklahoma,
1963
Military: U.S. Army, 1957-1959
Family: Wife and co-owner, Judy; son and company vice presi-
dent, Tod; daughter, Tanya; three grandchildren
Board member: U.S. Trout Association, Hagerman Fish Culture
Experiment Station
Awards: National Aquaculture Association’s Joe McCaren Award,
Governor’s Award for Innovative Geothermal Energy Development
pond production to high-densi-
ty production with temperature
control.
The catfish business took
off, leading to a distributor out-
let in Long Beach, Calif., to es-
tablish a presence.
“In six months, we had
so much market we shipped
straight to distributors,” Ray
said.
Three years after his first
land purchase in Idaho and
sharing what could be done
with hot water, Ray bought
70 adjacent acres — paying
$2,000 an acre.
He expanded the operation
in 1975, launching the first suc-
cessful tilapia farm in the U.S.,
to provide the fish to the Impe-
rial Valley Irrigation District for
moss control in its canals.
Five years later, the irrigation
district switched to carp, which
could survive the winter, and
Ray turned to food markets for
his tilapia.
In addition to geothermal wa-
ter, Ray also recognized the po-
tential of the area’s cold springs
and added rainbow trout to the
mix in 1978 and sturgeon in
1988.
He also raised alligators, im-
ported from Florida, marketing
their meat and hides from 1992
until 2002. It was a profitable
business, but he ended it after
a shipment of baby alligators
succumbed to West Nile vi-
rus.
“This is still a new indus-
try with a lot of room for inno-
vation. You have to stay on top
of it and change with it or you’ll
be obsolete,” he said.
Today the operation raises
trout, catfish, tilapia and stur-
geon on warm- and cool-water
farms in Buhl and Hagerman
and is just getting started in
the tropical fish business. Ray
also processes the meat fish and
sturgeon caviar and does all his
marketing.
All told, the operation pro-
duces about 1.5 million pounds
of fish meat and 3,000 pounds
of caviar a year. Ray supplies
the largest part of Whole Foods’
trout sales nationwide and sells
to 50 to 60 distributors, ship-
ping to 30 to 33 weekly.
“The strength of this com-
pany is the diversity; the
weakness is trying to manage
that diversity,” Ray said.
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Fast-food resolution: Transform junk food image
By CANDICE CHOI
AP Food Industry Writer
NEW YORK — Fast-food
chains have a New Year’s res-
olution: Drop the junk.
As people express distaste
for food they think is overly
processed, McDonald’s, Taco
Bell and other chains are try-
ing to shed their reputation for
serving reheated meals that are
loaded with chemicals. That
includes rethinking the use of
artificial preservatives and oth-
er ingredients customers find
objectionable.
“This demand for fresh and
real is on the rise,” said Greg
Creed, CEO of Yum Brands,
which owns Taco Bell, KFC
and Pizza Hut.
During the presentation
for analysts and investors last
month, Creed said the compa-
ny needs to be more transpar-
ent about ingredients and use
fewer preservatives.
Recasting fast-food as
“fresh” and “real” will be
tricky, in large part because
it’s so universally regarded
as cheap and greasy. Anoth-
er problem is that terms like
“fresh,” “real” and “healthy”
have nebulous meanings,
making it hard for compa-
nies to pin down how to ap-
proach transformation.
One way chains are look-
ing to redefine themselves is
by purging recipes of chemi-
cals people might find unap-
petizing. Already, packaged
food and beverage companies
have reformulated products to
remove such ingredients, even
while standing by their safe-
ty. PepsiCo, for instance, said
it would remove brominated
vegetable oil from Gatorade
after a petition by a teenager
noted it isn’t approved for use
in some markets overseas.
And fast-food chains are in-
dicating they want to jump on
the “clean label” trend too:
— Last month, McDonald’s
USA President Mike Andres
outlined improvements the
company is working on, includ-
ing the simplification of ingre-
dient labels. Without providing
details, he said to expect some
changes in early 2015. The re-
marks came after the company
reported a 4.6 percent decline
in U.S. sales for November,
capping two years of struggling
performance.
“Why do we need to have
preservatives in our food?” An-
dres asked, noting McDonald’s
restaurants go through supplies
quickly. “We probably don’t.”
• Subway, a privately held
company that does not dis-
close sales, started airing
TV ads Thursday for its new
chicken strips free of artificial
preservatives and flavors. Af-
ter suffering bad publicity, the
company said earlier last year
it would remove an ingredient
from its bread that an online
petition noted was also used
in yoga mats. The ingredient,
azodicarbonamide, is approved
by the Food and Drug Admin-
istration and widely used as a
dough conditioner and whiten-
ing agent.
• Chick-fil-A said in 2013
it would remove high-fructose
corn syrup from buns and ar-
tificial dyes from its dressings.
A couple months later, it said
it plans to serve only chicken
raised without antibiotics with-
in five years.
• Carl’s Jr. last month intro-
duced an “all-natural” burger
with no added hormones, anti-
biotics or steroids. “We are ob-
viously looking at other prod-
ucts on our menu to see which
ones can be made all natural
as well,” said Brad Haley, the
chain’s chief marketing officer.
It’s not clear how far fast-
food companies will go in re-
formulating recipes. But the
nation’s biggest chains are fac-
ing growing competition. In the
latest quarter, customer visits to
traditional fast-food hamburg-
er chains declined 3 percent
from a year ago, according to
market researcher NPD Group.
Fast-casual chains — which are
seen as a step up from tradition-
al fast-food — saw visits rise 8
percent.
Part of the appeal of fast-ca-
sual chains is that they position
themselves as being higher in
quality. Chipotle, which touts
its use of organic ingredients
and meat from animals that
were raised without antibiot-
ics, said sales at established
locations surged 19.8 percent
in the most recent quarter. And
Panera vowed this summer to
remove artificial colors, flavors
and preservatives from its food
by 2016.
The ethos of wholesome in-
gredients is increasingly being
embraced across the industry.
But not without some challeng-
es.
Dan Coudreaut, executive
chef at McDonald’s, has noted
the difficulties in changing rec-
ipes. In an interview last year,
he said McDonald’s is looking
at ways to use culinary tech-
niques to replace the functions
of certain ingredients.
“If you take (an ingredient)
out, what are you giving up?”
he said.
Michael Jacobson, execu-
tive director of the Center for
Science in the Public Interest,
said there are likely many cases
where artificial preservatives or
colors could be replaced with
natural alternatives without
significant costs. Since their
functions vary, he said com-
panies would have to evaluate
recipes product by product.
“Sometimes, food addi-
tives can be crutches or in-
surance policies. If a food is
frozen, germs aren’t going to
grow. But preservatives might
be added just in case, or they
may be used just because their
supplier has been using it for
so long,” he said, adding that
such changes are “not a big
deal” in terms of the overall
health.
Michele Simon, a public
health lawyer and author of
“Appetite for Profit: How the
Food Industry Undermines
our Health and How to Fight
Back,” also said getting rid of
additives here and there won’t
be enough to change the way
people think about fast-food.
“That’s just rearranging
the deck chairs on the Titan-
ic,” Simon said. “These com-
panies have a fundamental
problem in who they are.”
Expo, Washington State Hay
Growers Association, Three Riv-
ers Convention Center, Kenne-
wick, (509) 585-5460, snolan@
agmgt.com, www.wa-hay.org
Jan. 26-29 — Washington-Or-
egon Potato Conference, Three
Rivers Convention Center and
Toyota Center, Kennewick, Wash.,
www.potatoconference.com
British Columbia 100th annual
meeting, 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m., LaSells
Stewart Center, Oregon State Uni-
versity Campus, Corvallis, http://
www.oregonhazelnuts.org
Jan. 17 — 2015 Lambing
School, co-sponsored by the
Oregon Sheep Growers Associa-
tion and Oregon State University
Extension, registration deadline
Jan. 9, 541-673-0369 or email
johnandpeggyfine @charter.net
Jan. 21 — Oregon Ryegrass
Growers Association annual
meeting, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Linn
County Fair and Expo Center, Al-
bany, 503-364-2944.
Jan. 26 — Agricultural Safety
and Pesticide Accreditation Work-
shop, sponsored by the Central
Oregon Safety and Health Asso-
ciation, Deschutes Farm Bureau
and Helena Chemical Co., 1-5
p.m. Bend, $45 ($20 for Farm Bu-
reau members), www.cosha.org
Jan. 26-27 — Mid-Oregon
Construction Safety Summit, The
Riverhouse, Bend, www.cosha.
org
Jan. 27 — Oregon Blueberry
Conference, 8:30 a.m.-8 p.m.,
Jantzen Beach Red Lion Hotel,
Portland, oregonblueberry.com/
conference
Jan. 27-29 — Northwest Ag-
ricultural Show, Portland Expo
Center,
http://www.nwagshow.
com/
http://yakimaagexpo.com/
Calendar
To submit items to the calendar,
send an email with information to
calendar@capitalpress.com
JANUARY
NATIONAL
Jan. 7-9 — Potato Expo, Ros-
en Shingle Creek, Orlando, Fla.,
http://www.potato-expo.com/
Jan. 11-14 — American Farm
Bureau Annual Convention, San
Diego, Calif., http://annualcon-
vention.fb.org/
Jan. 28-31 — American Sheep
Industry Association annual meet-
ing, Nugget Resort and Casino,
Sparks, Nev., www.sheepusa.org/
About_Events_Convention
REGIONAL
Jan. 14-15 — Northwest Hay
OREGON
Jan. 8-9 — Oregon Mint
Growers annual meeting, Salis-
han Resort, oregonmint.org
Jan. 12-14 — Northwest Food
Processors Expo and Confer-
ence, Oregon Convention Center,
Portland, www.nwfpa.org
Jan. 13 — Nut Growers So-
ciety of Oregon, Washington and
WASHINGTON
Jan. 8-9 — Yakima Ag
Expo, Sun Dome, Yakima,
CALIFORNIA
Jan. 13-15 — Associated Cali-
fornia Loggers, Reno, www.calog.
com/
Jan. 16 — Young Almond and
Walnut Orchards workshop, 8:30
a.m.-noon, Community and Se-
nior Center, Woodland, 530-822-
7515, http://cesutter.ucanr.edu/
IDAHO
Jan. 16 — Family Foresters
Workshop, Coeur d’Alene Inn,
208-446-1680, http://www.uidaho.
edu/extension/forestry/content/
calendarofevents
Jan. 21-23 — Idaho Horticul-
ture Expo, Boise Centre on the
Grove, inlagrow.org
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Index
California ................................ 8
Dairy .................................... 14
Idaho ...................................... 9
Livestock ............................. 14
Markets ............................... 15
Opinion .................................. 6
Oregon ................................ 10
Washington ..........................11
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