Former East Texas poultry farms converting to fish farms
A new agribusiness has taken empty chicken houses in east Texas and successfully converted them into fish farms. East Texas Tilapia has been taking advantage of some of the opportunities created when changes to the poultry industry led to numbers of empty chicken houses across the state.
The Houston Chronicle reports that the new company is headed by Van Vaught and his partners, Jim Reed and Don Walker. Vaught and his brothers all owned chicken houses in Texas when the chicken company gave them the mandate to invest another $500,000 in the farm to make needed upgrades. They decided against it, as the deal with the company left them with no contract guarantees.