USSEC recently provided technical service to several aquaculture farms and conducted a seminar for trout producers in Colombia.  Consultant Jairo Amezquita and a representative from a major regional aquafeed producer travelled to the region of Laguna de la Cocha to provide technical service to farms that use aquafeeds produced with U.S. soy.  The team visited six trout farms to provide trade servicing to improve trout management and overcome problems with bacteria.  At one farm, they followed up on a claim about color reduction by checking the intensity of red pigmentation of the trout.

This team also conducted a short seminar for trout producers where Mr. Amezquita presented information on salmonids and USSEC´s role in global aquaculture.  He emphasized the current situation of the aquaculture industry in Latin America and Colombia and also discussed opportunities for diversification with new species.  In addition, Mr. Amezquita presented statistics and results of feeding trials with soybean meal, soybean protein concentrate and soybean protein isolate conducted by USSEC during the past year.  The aquafeed representative gave a lecture on probiotics and the formulation of trout feeds, emphasizing the current water quality situation and its importance for local aqua production.