Photo by Mike Lamb A sign advertises the Balaton Bay Reef Training and Innovation Center in Balaton that was recently built and ready for shrimp production.

BALATON — Marshall High School graduate Taylor Greve held up a small jar in front of small crowd of people that formed around him inside the Balaton Bay Reef Training and Innovation Center.

“This is the finished product of the hatchery,” Greve said. He was speaking to about 20 people that were part of one of dozens of groups that took the tour after the commissioning ceremony of the bay reef. The jar contained post-larvae shrimp that will eventually be heading into tidal basins that are also inside the center.

The construction of the towering building built by Ralco’s tru Shrimp was recently completed which led to Wednesday’s ceremony. Besides Greve, the center employs 29 workers, 10 of which were recently hired.

“What an exciting moment,” tru Shrimp Board Chairman Brian Knochenmus said to a crowd of more than 200 people outside the towering building that houses the tidal basins and other parts of the research and training center. Technology that will be used in the center will eventually be utilized at a much larger production bay reef that will eventually be built in Luverne. That facility will include a 42,000 square-foot hatchery.

What you see here before you is a lot of hard work,” Knochenmus told the crowd just before his mother, Niter Knochenmus, swung a large champagne bottle against the corner of the building for the official commissioning.

“We are bringing something to life, quite frankly, we couldn’t even envision for you four years ago. This is an amazing amount of progress you see before you.”

Knochenmus described how Ralco officials visited Texas A&M University four years ago to work out a licensing agreement for technology “that ended up coming to life as you see here.”

“A lot of things we are doing here, no one else has done ever. It’s an amazing thing. We have local contractors and serious industry professionals come together in putting together to do what’s behind me,” he said. “Another new one that no one has seen is the automated feeding system for the tidal basins (where the shrimp are fed and raised). Action Manufacturing out of Marshall, Minnesota, really came to bat for us in an innovative way in feeding shrimp. Can you imagine it. Action Manufacturing out of Marshall, Minnesota.”

During the tours, those in attendance were able to get a peek at the feeding system Action Manufacturing designed for the tidal basins. However, tru Shrimp officials didn’t allow for any picture taking inside the center. Tru Shrimp official Glenn Bader told the Independent that they didn’t allow photos or videos to be taken during the tour due to the “unique proprietary nature of what we are creating.” He said limiting pictures inside helps tru Shrimp protect patents and trade secrets.

During the tour, tru Shrimp employee Tim Goss explained the process that spreads the feed across the whole length within the tidal basin.

“See it moving right there,” Goss said, pointing to the feeder that was moving past the group above the bottom basin, which was empty. “It’s not actually putting in any feed right now, but you get the idea. It will spread feed all the way and then when it gets to the end, it will reverse the motor and come back. Then it will stop on this end — one to get filled by the (feed) system you just heard about, and two, to recharge its batteries. So it’s a battery operated piece of equipment. It will go as fast as we tell it to go. It’s computer controlled. It will deliver the feed that we will want. There will be a feeder for each one of the tidal basins.”

Goss said there are eight tidal basins stacked on top of each other and they are 150 feet long. He said the Luverne bay reef tidal basins will be four times larger.

Knochenmus offered more context to the size of the Laverne bay reef during his address.

“Luverne will be 128 times larger than what you see behind me. Luverne itself when produces at full capacity will be somewhere around 7 and 7-½ million pounds of shrimp,” he said. “In other words in Luverne, we will have a facility that will reach .4 percent of the U.S. market. Let’s think about that. If we wanted to get 10 percent of the shrimp marketed in the U.S., that’s 40 — 4-0 — Luverne Bay harbors in other communities. In other locations in the upper Midwest. This is a gigantic project that really starts here.”

The tour received strong comments of support from local officials in attendance, including state Sen. Gary Dahms and Marshall Mayor Bob Byrnes.

“Just amazing, amazing what they have done,” Dahms said. “This is a real opportunity for southwest Minnesota and it’s very fortunate that the Knochenmus family and Ralco and tru Shrimp are willing to be here in rural Minnesota — in the southern part of the state. It’s going to bolster employment and give us a lot of opportunities. And there are all kinds of side things that will come from this. It’s going to be fantastic.”

Byrnes agreed calling the building and everything inside “remarkably impressive.”

“The technology that they put in their testing is really groundbreaking,” he said. “It’s never been done and it’s very exciting.”