USSEC started the international In Pond Raceway System (IPRS) technology outreach with industry in 2013 in China. Since that time, over 6000 IPRS cells have been constructed in that nation. In 2016, an official effort was begun to expand the technology to other regions, including Southeast Asia (SEA). In SEA, the approach was taken to start in one nation, Vietnam, to gauge the challenges in educating the aquaculture industry about IPRS. With a close partnership with Cargill in northern Vietnam, there are now over 150 IPRS cells in Vietnam as well. Additionally, the start in one country has given USSEC significant insight into the issues and challenges of expanding this technology in new areas. Beginning with a trip by USSEC IPRS specialist Dr. Jesse Chappell to Thailand this October, USSEC has kicked off the promotion of IPRS in other SEA nations, starting with Thailand.
Thailand has an advanced aquaculture and aquafeeds industry, and should be well suited to adopting IPRS. (Vietnam was chosen as the first target due to its large export industry and critical water issues.) During this trip, several large and influential feed and production operations expressed interest in IPRS technology, both for increasing volumes of production and for targeting higher quality feeds. With a planned demonstration in FY19, with high quality feeds using U.S. Soy, USSEC hopes to see IPRS expand even more rapidly in Thailand than in Vietnam and to encourage the use of high quality feeds that will favor U.S. Soy products.