Fishing for Success

Success Stories Show Small Businesses Thriving in Rural Alabama

By Kelli Degnan

Nana’s Notes

Shirley Cotney opened her own small business in September of 2006. Nana’s Notes can be found at the end of a dirt road in Chambers County about an hour and a half from Auburn. There aren’t many stores or even service stations around the rural area everyone knows everybody.

Vision 13 Builds Leaders

By Allie Anderson

Vision 13 is a new leadership and issue awareness program whose main objectives are to develop leadership skills and increase rural county residents’ abilities to define solutions for local problems in their community. A main deterrent of a rural community’s economic development is its lack of leaders. Vision 13 will combine with LeadershipPlenty and specifically target the needs of rural counties in Alabama Senate District 13 of Alabama.

Alabama Fish Farming Center: A blessing in the Black Belt

By Lindsay Wood

Barry Bates starts his day at 5 a.m. every day to feed his fish. Not the average gold fish or even a feisty beta fish, but his catfish that dwell in 157 acres of murky brown pond water.

Bates has created success from his six catfish ponds and four new sport fish ponds just outside of Greensboro, Ala. He hopes for an early retirement.

“I get to be my own boss,” said Bates. “It’s a lot of headaches, but I like to travel and meet people.” Bates has a diverse farm consisting not only of fish, but trees, cattle and hunting land that he wants to develop into a guided hunting area.

This is West Alabama. Miles of green space span the countryside near Greensboro. Catfish ponds, country homes and pastures for cattle or horses dot the landscape.

Gregory Whitis, an extension aquaculturist for the Alabama Fish Farming Center, and Bill Hemstreet, a fish health specialist for the center, bring their knowledge of fish farming to local farmers. The team helps farmers get their feet planted to develop a profitable fish farm. With 260 fish farmers in the Greensboro area, the Alabama Fish Farming Center staff stays busy.

Questions about this page
Last updated May 03, 2007May 03, 2007May 03, 2007