NEBRASKA CITY – GoodLife Agriculture Project Manager John Humphrey told Nebraska City commissioners Monday that shifts in construction timing promise far more Atlantic Salmon coming out of Nebraska City than expected when the project was first announced in 2024.

After the success of growing salmon on a farm in rural Nebraska City and using nutrient-rich water for aquaponic vegetables, Kiel VanderVeen visioned a similar, but much larger, operation on an industrial area north of town.

A 2024 fire at the fish farm destroyed the Nebraska-city grown fish, however, and released VanderVeen to rethink the sequence of construction.

Rather than starting with a “grow-out” facility that would raise fish, the company is now planning to build a 250,000-square-foot building to accommodate two shifts of salmon production.

Under the initial proposal, VanderVeen expected to produce 3,000 tons of salmon per year.  Now, Humphrey said, the company is near phase one construction to produce 20,000 tons a year.

He said the company still hopes to raise salmon in Nebraska, but the grow-out operation is now in phase two of the construction plan.

Humphrey: “With the prior design when we were going to build a ‘grow out’ facility, we had to get permits from the Corps of Engineers for several items because the pipelines that would go down into the bottom ground would cross through a wetland. There were 404 permits because of discharge back into the river.

Since we’re not doing that now, we need to get a ‘no permit’ letter from the corps.”

He told commissioners the company expected to start with 62 employees.

Humphrey: “If and when we go to two shifts, it would probably double that.”

https://rivercountry.newschannelnebraska.com/story/51450394/nebraska-city-opens-economic-development-toolbox-for-goodlife-agriculture

https://rivercountry.newschannelnebraska.com/story/52285867/massive-aquaculture-facility-moving-forward-despite-october-fire