Tru Shrimp breaks ground on facility to train workes for Luverne Bay Harbor

Groundbreaking was Monday, Sept. 18, for the Balaton Bay Reef Training and Engineering Center, the largest land-based shrimp facility in the Upper Midwest.
The 12,000-square-foot, 40-foot-tall facility will house a reef of eight 150-foot-long, stacked Tidal Basins.
It will serve as a training and engineering facility to prepare employees for work at the Luverne Bay Harbor shrimp production facility, which will be built next year.
The Balaton structure will be built on green space northeast of the Ralco Technology Campus in Balaton.
It will be adjacent to the trū Shrimp Innovation and Laboratory that has been in use for more than two years and is one of the most advanced shrimp research facilities in the world.
It will be the only one of its kind in the world and will be capable of producing 65,000 pounds of shrimp annually.
The private groundbreaking was hosted by the trū Shrimp ownership and management team: Ralco and trū Shrimp owners Brian and Jon Knochenmus and trū Shrimp CEO Michael Ziebell together with Minnesota state senators, representatives, Economic Development Coordinator Tara Onken and CEO and President of ISG engineering firm Chad Surprenant.