Newswise — Undergraduate students at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock may have the perfect solution to the threat posed by Asian carp invading much of Mississippi River Basin.

Catch-22, a team from the UALR College of Business, has developed a proposal to create a high-quality organic fertilizer from Asian carp, using the entire fish for its micronutrients.

In one of the premier business-plan competitions in America, the team earned a first place award and $25,000 for its plan at the recent 2013 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup awards luncheon.

Team members James Rutherford, Ryan Guinee, Robert Grasby, and Brandon Burroughs, along with team advisor, Richard Crane, also took home the first place Arkansas Farm Bureau Agriculture Award and $6,000.

Now Catch-22 advances to the Donald W. Reynolds Tri-state Awards competition in Las Vegas in May, where teams from Arkansas, Nevada, and Oklahoma will compete for $118,000 in prizes.

Catch-22 is taking a portion of the winnings and putting the plan into action, making contacts with fishermen in the Arkansas Delta to determine appropriate price points and performing fertilizer tests before the competition in Las Vegas.

Because team members enlisted the help of a chemical engineer, they are certain their fertilizer, which uses the entire fish and all of its micronutrients, improves on anything currently available in the market.

They can boast that it is the first business in the region to attempt such a solution and the first in the country to use the whole fish.

“We know it is better, but what we don’t know yet is just how much better,” acknowledged Guinee, who serves as the team’s chief marketing officer.

Guinee gave credit for the idea to team advisor, Richard Crane, who first suggested the Asian carp problem as one needing a viable business solution.

“Our initial thought was that it was not technologically impressive,” admitted Guinee.

It didn’t take long for team members to realize the beauty of the project was in its simplicity. In about two months, they developed a plan to deal with a serious environmental issue by offering what they strongly believed to be a simple, yet effective, environmental solution.

“What surprised us the most was that the fertilizer barrier to entry (ease in entering the market to sell a product) was so low and that the profit margins were so high, at about 70 to 80 percent, this plan was an exceptional one,” Guinee said.

The one negative? “Others can come in and compete easily, as well,” Guinee said.

According to the National Wildlife Federation, Asian carp were imported into the U.S. in the 1970s to filter pond water in fish farms in Arkansas. The aggressive and adaptable fish are outcompeting native fish for food and habitat and on the verge of invading the Great Lakes.

Catch-22’s name, which connotes anything but a successful end to a recurring problem, stems from an early concern expressed by the team members--what if the business is so successful in using the carp that there is a strong risk of depleting their supply?

“That means your own success may spell your own demise, hence, the name ‘Catch-22,’” said Crane. “Fortunately what we realized, and answered for the judges, was that there is no way we would deplete all the carp. That’s the vast size of the problem.”

Crane said the team was already thinking ahead about these kind of potential problems and possible solutions, such as growing carp in ponds formerly used in catfish farming, now lying mostly dormant after lower-priced Chinese competition entered into market.

“I was blessed with these four guys, they worked so wonderfully together,” said Crane.

“They were so passionate about this project that they put in the extra work to win it. They just committed themselves fully.”