Dr. Addison Lawrence (right) makes his hiring official as he shakes hands with Ralco Vice President, Brian Knochenmus.
Dr. Addison Lawrence has joined Ralco Aquaculture as chief technical officer effective March 2, 2015.
World-renowned shrimp expert, Dr. Lawrence, recently retired from Texas A&M University System after 36 years as a Regent Fellow, Senior Faculty Fellow, Project Leader and Scientist in Charge for Texas A&M Agrilife Research, and as a member of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Intercollegiate Faculty of Nutrition and Marine Biology Interdisciplinary Program Faculty.
Dr. Lawrence will guide Ralco to mirror and enhance the technology that was developed at the Mariculture Laboratory for Shrimp Research at Texas A&M University in Port Aransas, TX. In addition, he will also direct a new, state-of-the-art research facility and pilot demonstration plant being constructed at the Ralco Technology Campus in Balaton, MN.
“The position I have taken with Ralco Aquaculture gives me the opportunity of realizing my lifelong dream to make shrimp as universal as chicken in the everyday diet,” said Dr. Lawrence. “Shrimp will soon be a new source of affordable and abundant protein.”
In January, it was announced that Texas A&M University licensed its patent for the super-intensive raceway system of shrimp production for the United States of America market to Ralco. Dr. Lawrence developed the technology covered under the patent and contends that the super-intensive raceway system can produce 1,000,000 lbs. of shrimp/acre footprint of water annually.
Ralco has more than four decades of experience providing successful technologies for animal nutrition, animal health and plant performance. Aligning a 50 year shrimp nutrition scholar with Ralco makes for a powerful combination explained Michael Ziebell, general manager of Ralco Aquaculture.
“How much better can it get?” said Ziebell. “We are privileged to have the technology and the man who developed and researched the technology at our side, guiding us every step of the way. All of us at Ralco are fortunate to spend time with Dr. Lawrence soaking up his knowledge of the shrimp industry. Dr. Lawrence’s presence also brings us great confidence and credibility to boldly move forward with our work.”
Construction is currently underway at the Ralco Technology Campus in Balaton, MN. The research facility will be operational by July and the pilot demonstration plant by the end of 2015. Concurrently, the engineering of a 1,000,000 lb. annual capacity farm using the raceway technology is well underway. Ralco Vice President, Brian Knochenmus, said the new research facility and the addition of Dr. Lawrence place Ralco at the cutting-edge of shrimp production.
“We are thrilled to have Dr. Lawrence join the Ralco Aquaculture team. We see that shrimp plays an extremely important role in supplying safe and abundant food. Ralco is well positioned to utilize our current technologies with the success of Dr. Lawrence’s research to make shrimp widely available to consumers around the world,” said Knochenmus.
Lawrence and his wife, Rose, continue to reside in Port Aransas, Texas and will commute to Minnesota and other parts of the world as needed.
Ralco is a third-generation family owned multinational company with distribution in more than 30 countries. A leading global provider of livestock nutrition, animal health products and crop enhancement products; Ralco supports large segments of the livestock, poultry, aquaculture and crop industries.
