State catfish farmers look to level the playing field

State catfish farmers look to level the playing field

Unlike many Northeast Mississippi farmers, Brent Wedel didn’t get into the business because of family ties.

“I just got this brainwave to try it,” Wedel said.

And he’s not a typical grower, either.

Wedel is a catfish farmer. Not growing up in the industry, he learned much of what he knows today through trial and error.

“I started with 10 acres in ’95 and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Wedel said. Today, he routinely produces more than 1 million pounds of catfish a year from his 26-pond farm in Egypt in Chickasaw County.

Wedel’s success is noteworthy in an industry that as a whole, has declined steeply over the past decade.

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
6/30/13