North Carolina Caviar Takes on the World

Alicia Raffinengo,

Reporter, Life News Today

When Americans think of caviar, they are more likely to picture Russia, Iran or the Caspian Sea than a farm in North Carolina. Marshallberg Farm is challenging that assumption by raising Russian sturgeon and producing genuine Osetra caviar in the United States. Life News Today visited the company’s coastal facility near Smyrna on Friday, July 17, 2026. What LNT found was not a small novelty business attempting to imitate an imported luxury product. Marshallberg Farm has developed one of North America’s largest Osetra caviar operations and is placing an American-made product into direct competition with established caviar producers around the world.

The family-operated company began taking shape in 2008 under I.J. Won, a former North Carolina State University professor of geophysics who wanted to prove that valuable seafood could be produced domestically through controlled and sustainable aquaculture. Won constructed the commercial facility in 2010 after investing approximately $10 million in the project. He and his wife, Sue, also helped establish NC State’s Marine Aquaculture Research Center on six acres of their property. The university research center and Marshallberg Farm’s private commercial operation are separate, but their proximity reflects the scientific foundation behind the farm. NC State now describes Marshallberg Farm as the largest indoor recirculating aquaculture system sturgeon farm in the United States and the largest producer of Osetra caviar in North America.

Marshallberg Farm originally established its stock with fertilized Russian sturgeon eggs imported from Germany. Earlier reporting also found that North Carolina sturgeon farms relied on imported fertilized eggs while developing domestic breeding programs. By 2023, Marshallberg Farm was breeding, spawning and hatching some of its own fish, reducing its dependence on outside suppliers. The farm now keeps selected mature males and females as broodstock, meaning they are reserved for reproduction rather than immediate caviar or meat production. Their fertilized eggs are hatched, and the young fish are raised in the farm’s nursery system. The juveniles remain there until they reach approximately 600 grams, or 1.3 pounds, when they are transferred to larger production tanks. Although Marshallberg Farm can produce part of its future stock on-site, it may still purchase fertilized eggs or young sturgeons when additional fish are needed.

The scale is impressive, but caviar farming is not a business that produces quick returns. Russian sturgeon generally requires nearly a decade before the females are ready for their caviar harvest. That long production period is one reason relatively few American aquaculture companies raise pure Russian sturgeon. During those years, Marshallberg Farm must continue paying for specialized feed, electricity, oxygen, filtration equipment, water-quality monitoring, employees and maintenance without receiving the principal product for which each female is being raised.

Another major step occurs when the sturgeons are approximately 5 years old. At that stage, workers can usually identify males and females by examining each fish with ultrasound. Once the sex is confirmed, the fish are transferred into separate tanks so the farm can manage them according to their future purpose. Some males are selected and retained as broodstock for reproduction, while others are raised for sturgeon meat. The females remain in separate tanks for several additional years as their eggs develop. Mature females are examined again, and biopsies are used to evaluate the size, texture and quality of the roe. If the eggs are not ready, the fish may remain at the farm for another year while the company continues paying for her care. Stress can also cause a female to reabsorb her eggs, making careful handling, stable water quality and a controlled environment essential not only for the welfare of the fish but also for the financial success of the operation.

The farm’s recirculating aquaculture system is central to that care. The operation does not depend on a river, lake or pond to supply and carry away its water. Instead, water moves through mechanical and biological filtration equipment before being oxygenated and returned to the tanks. NC State reported that the system recycles approximately 1 million gallons every hour and reuses about 95% of its water. Oxygen levels are monitored continuously, and alarms are designed to warn employees before a change becomes dangerous to the fish. The small amount of liquid waste produced by the system can be supplied to area farmers and gardeners for fertilizer rather than released directly into nearby waterways.

Marshallberg Farm stands apart from many caviar producers because it raises pure Russian sturgeon, scientifically known as Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, rather than hybrid fish. Although the species carries the name “Russian,” the sturgeon are bred, raised and processed in North Carolina, making the finished Osetra caviar an American-made product. Hybrid caviar comes from sturgeon created by crossing two different species, not from mixing eggs from different fish in the same container. At Marshallberg, the caviar comes exclusively from pure Russian sturgeon and is produced through a carefully controlled process. When a mature female’s eggs are ready, the fish is euthanized and the eggs are removed, cleaned, salted and transformed into caviar before being packed, refrigerated and graded. This gives Marshallberg a distinctive position in a market historically associated with the Caspian and Black Sea regions, where wild sturgeon populations have been severely reduced by overfishing, poaching, pollution, dams and habitat destruction. Farm-raised production provides a legal alternative that does not depend on harvesting critically threatened wild fish. Marshallberg also uses as much of each harvested sturgeon as possible by selling fresh and smoked meat and finding uses for the bones, skin, organs and other byproducts rather than discarding them.

American production would mean little if the finished caviar could not compete with products from countries that have dominated the industry for generations. Marshallberg has earned recognition beyond North Carolina, including being named a 2021 winner in the Caviar category for the United States by Luxury Lifestyle Awards, a global program recognizing luxury brands and products. The farm also reports that Business Insider ranked its Osetra caviar No. 1 in an editorial comparison. More recently, Food & Wine included Marshallberg Farm Royal Osetra among its honorable mentions after conducting a blind tasting of more than 60 caviars in 2025. Judges praised its golden color, buttery flavor and delicate, creamy texture without seeing the labels or knowing where the products were made.

The tour also allowed LNT to evaluate the company beyond its website and product labels. The guide who led Life News Today’s tour of Marshallberg Farm explains the facility and its caviar-production process. Lianne Won-Reburn prepared an absolutely wonderful tasting spread featuring caviar, smoked sturgeon and accompaniments, allowing visitors to understand the differences in flavor, texture and color after seeing the years of work required to produce them. When LNT had an additional question after the tour, a staff employee answered the call and provided the requested information. Everyone involved was welcoming and knowledgeable, but the most important impression was their command of a difficult operation in which one equipment failure, water-quality problem or handling mistake could affect fish that have already required years of investment.

Marshallberg Farm represents more than an unusual North Carolina attraction. It shows that a U.S. company can take a product almost entirely associated with foreign history, develop the scientific and agricultural expertise to produce it domestically, comply with demanding food safety and wildlife trade rules, and compete for recognition against caviar sold by established international producers. The United States may not be the first country people associate with Osetra caviar, but a family-operated farm in North Carolina is proving that “Made in USA” can belong at the same table as the most respected caviar-producing countries in the world.