The Meichtry family is about to make history.
The SME located in the Chaco town of La Leonesa, in the east of the province, began with the production of rice but later, in an innovative rotation, they added the production of pacú to market both meat and byproducts in the domestic market.
But they didn't stop there and went for more:
they are about to export to the United States for the first time.
Almost a year ago, precisely in April 2023, the National Agri-Food Health and Quality Service (Senasa) had enabled the refrigerator to be able to export to the North American country by complying with the safety requirements requested by the destination country.
The firm
has already prepared the 8 tons of pacú that will be sent to California
, which will be in mid-April.
Previously, they had already sent samples to that North American location.
Pacú fishing in Chaco.
In this first shipment there are different cuts of special fillet (without bones and bones) made to measure, with a value per kilo that depends on the degree of preparation of the cut, but varies between US$ 3.5 to US$ 8.
Until the possibility of exporting to the United States appeared,
the company was dedicated solely to the domestic market
.
“We saw the possibility of expanding to Paraguay, Bolivia and western Brazil, which are countries already familiar with pacú, but we did not reach those markets because the internal market was always absorbing the production we had,” said
Martín Meichtry
, executive director of the Group. Puerto Las Palmas.
The kickoff of this initiative was the relationship with the clothing company Patagonia, which was looking for a supplier of fishmeal of sustainable origin.
“They have a very important salmon production project on land in Canada, in a closed pond, with water recirculation, which they want to promote to replace the cage in the sea.
But they have trouble making balanced food because a high percentage of the fish meal they use is from extractive fishing, that is, from sea fishing.
So, they are looking at ways to replace these protein sources with others of more sustainable origin.
“They found out about our company that we produce in Chaco in rotation with rice cultivation and they contacted us,” he described.
Eugenia, Eduardo, Martín and Marcos Meitchtry
Martín said that the businessmen toured the field, the facilities and also tried the pacú in different forms of cuisine - empanadas, grilled and grilled steak, fried snacks - and as he stated, "they loved the product."
From there, they began a commercial relationship in order to
increase production for human consumption, which in turn generates greater production of by-products for the generation of flour
, which is used for balanced feed for salmon.
“Although there are companies that are importing something from Brazil, the consumption of pacú in the United States is still not widely publicized or known, but the
tests we did in California were well accepted
,” he noted.
Pacú production
is stabilized at 400 tons per year
and now the objective is to double production after the agreement with the company.
Martín Meichtry, one of the firm's leaders, in a rice field.
In their fish farm they produce more than 12 products derived from pacú, under the Pacú Teko brand.
From the simplest product, such as the whole pacú, to three types of boneless fillet and more elaborate products, such as milanesas, medallions, nuggets, loin slices, pacú ribs and hamburgers.
In parallel, they also
invested US$300,000 in a small plant for the production of pacú flour and oil to supply as an input for salmon production in Canada.
“We can send these by-products as input or we can prepare them from balanced foods and send them finished,” he commented.
For the moment, they sent samples and they processed it.
Piletones "planted" with pacú.
Pacú production
Reproduction until slaughter takes 15 months.
100 grams enter the pool and leave with a kilo and a half.
In the first stage it is 30 days until they are moved to other pools to breed during the summer.
The last stage is fattening, which is carried out in the rotation ponds (where rice is also produced).
The pacú's diet is based on rice grains left in the basins, snails and then separately it is fed with extruded balanced foods.
“Initially, the diet was based on soy and corn, but now they are changing it to peanut and rice expeller,” he specified.
A batch of rice near the end of the crop cycle.
“The pacú eats the snail, which is a pest in rice, which already has a great benefit, but it also eats plankton and seeds, the regrowth of rice, and it also serves to control weeds,” he added.
The family
The productive history of the family began with Eduardo Meichtry, Martín's father, who in 1978 left Villaguay, Entre Ríos for Chaco with the idea of renting land on the banks of a river to continue producing rice like his father.
Rice with pacu
After comings and goings in business,
he was able to buy fields and began to shape what would become the family firm
.
Once they incorporated the pacú into the rotation in 2012, the current company called Puerto Las Palmas was born.
His sister Eugenia, in administration, and Marcos, in the fish processing plant, are also working.
On 800 hectares the firm produces rice in rotation with pacú in this rotational production scheme and on the other hand it has a joint production agreement with two other companies where they produce about 12,000 hectares of the cereal.