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DeSoto County
160A Aquaculture Farm and Airport For Sale in SW Florida $1,495,000
This farm includes a barn/workshop, runway, shell pit, and 510 ponds. It has active water-use and aquaculture permits. The property consists of 162.4 acres on a paved county-maintained County road. Professional staffing and a suite of appropriate equipment available if desired. The standing crop is hybrid stripe bass and is projected to produce 40,000 lbs from 21 ponds. This facility has produced commercial quantities of shrimp, food fish, and tropical aquarium fish since 1978. Current owners seek retirement.
Location: The property is located in SW Florida on paved County roads at 11751 SE Head Avenue, Arcadia FL 34266: 27 03 08.73N 81 51 24.07W SW corner of section 30 township 39 South range 25 East Parcel # 30-39-25-0000-0210-0000.
Structures: 40 x 60 metal building with a concrete fully drained floor. There is also a mobile home of about 12 x 60 in good repair.
Airport: Licensed FAA identifier is 26FD. This turf runway is oriented 36/18 and runs along the eastern edge of the property along Head Avenue. It is actively maintained.
Ponds: The farm is split into four sections of about forty acres each. Each pond is plumbed for aeration and water. 21 ponds have 1 Hp paddle wheel aerators with independent timers. All ponds are free of obstructions like shrubs and rocks, and are easily harvested by seine nets and dewatered. Perimeter pond levees are of adequate width for vehicular traffic and sloped and vegetated to minimize erosion and emergent weeds. 82 water-acres are under cultivation (excludes levees and supportive ditch system). Pond sizes vary by section. All dimensions are waterline dimensions:
NW 80+’ x 306+’, 46 ponds
SE 24’ x 120’, 168 ponds
SW 24’ x 120’, 182 ponds
NE 36’ x 105’, 114 ponds
Broker Protected
Other characteristics: This site has an excellent location for distribution. Over 70% of Florida's population is within 200 miles. It is located within sight of Florida’s largest Wal-Mart distribution center, in Fort Ogden ( http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FNP/is_9_44/ai_n13734507 ).
There is a shell pit in the NE end of the NE section, and a large dirt stockpile in the NW section. Soil from pond construction was retained on the property. The shell was tested in the late 1970s and shown to be of a quality passing the FL DOT standards for roadbed material. The shell deposits seem to run through the entire area below an overburden soil layer excellent for aquaculture ponds.
An elevated pad in the SE corner of the NW 40 is the site of the barn and living facilities along with a domestic well and four septic tanks.
There is a perimeter levy that surrounds the property and prevents production-pond flooding during extreme rain events. A network of aluminum flash-board risers and ditches maintain water levels. Download a video from Agricultural-Environmental Leadership Award Videos, Number 34. If you click on the WMV, you can download it; http://www.florida-agriculture.com/videos/scripts/script_agen_ekkwill.htm.
Production Well: This well has artesian flow and warm water, which is 28.5C/83.5F. This is of great benefit to warm water species during cold-snap weather. It is common to leave the pump turned off for long periods (months) and use only artesian flow, even while actively farming fish. The main well is 6” cased to 75.5’, drilled to 557.’ It is currently equipped with a Berkeley 15HP 3 phase 5”x 4” centrifugal pump which produces 700 gpm with a 66’ total dynamic head. A performance test indicated that at a 15’ draw down yielded 300gpm and a 30’ draw down twice that. So the specific yield is 20 GPM/Ft of draw down. The static head is +5’ (flowing artesian).
