The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced plans to purchase $20 million in wild-caught American shrimp through its Section 32 program.
This will be the first USDA purchase of warm water, wild-caught shrimp in more than a year, bringing much-needed demand at a time when Gulf shrimpers are facing extremely low dock prices, high operating costs, and continued pressure from imported farm-raised shrimp, according to the Louisiana Shrimp Association.