When you think of seafood, you probably don’t think about South Dakota, but that’s all about to change. 

Madison is slated to be the new home of a Tru Shrimp facility. 

The company is planning to build its first production harbor complex in the eastern city.

“Our harbor complex is comprised of our shrimp production facility which covers about nine acres under one roof. We have a water engineering reclamation center and we have a hatchery as well, all in the complex,” Tru Shrimp CEO and President Michael Ziebell said. 

The facility will produce about 8 million pounds of shrimp each year. 

But why Madison? 

Tru Shrimp’s President and CEO says for starters it’s the people. 

The company and state leaders have been in talks for a while. 

Plus…

“We need water and the Lewis and Clark pipeline is a piece of that puzzle. We need natural gas and you have a major artery running right through the city. And then we have gravy. And this gravy is the opportunity zone that the property sits in,” Ziebell said. 

The harbor is slated to be built in this area behind me in southeastern Madison.

Zieball says the facility will employ about 120 people. 

“This is going to be an exciting time for the city of Madison and it is a sustainable growth that we can handle,” Madison Mayor Roy Lindsay said. 

Governor Dennis Daugaard spent his final day full day celebrating the news, and highlighting the state’s business climate. 

“I’m very objective about this. It’s the best place to do business,”SD Governor Dennis Daugaard said. 

And Tru Shrimp, already with operations in Balaton, MN, isn’t done yet. 

“We think of ourselves not as a Minnesota company or South Dakota company. We think of ourselves as upper Midwest. We’re going to build multiple harbors across the Midwest,” Ziebell said. 

There were plans to build a harbor complex in Luverne, Minnesota. 

But Zieball said a state administrative rule that he calls “obscure,” prevented it from happening. 

He says once the issue is resolved, Luverne and other Minnesota sites will be considered for future tru Shrimp facilities.