One of the most profitable investments that can be
made in food business is snail farming. The increased demand of snails at international
level makes the future of snail farming very promising.
Snail farming can take place either in open farms or in closed facilities, exploiting vegetation and the use of artificial fodder. The choice of snail feeding depends on the available installation and operating capital, breeder's know-how, business plan and other factors. In any case, the candidate snail farmer must, before commencing breeding, have in-depth knowledge of all the parameters that can improve or create obstacles to it. The ways in which snails can be bred are four and they are the open type, the closed type, the mixed type and curtain method. The cost of each method is different, with the most expensive one being the closed type, which on the other hand has the highest production. The species of snails bred are mainly two, Helix Aspersa Maxima and Helix Aspersa Muller.
Indicatively, in order to grow snails in an open type farm of at least 5,000 sq.m., it should be fenced and planted with vegetables at first. The snail farming can begin with 15,000 snails. These snails reproduce themselves during spring and autumn and each snail can give birth to 120 baby snails. However, what is definitely to be done is exhaustive research. Production is stabilized after the third year and a yield of 800 kg of snails per year come out of 1000 sq.m. open type farm. The selling price of snails is high and the strongest ally to this investment is the high demand from European countries such as Italy, Spain, Germany and the country that consumes the most snails in the world, France.
Farms' financial figures vary according to the region, although similar techniques and methods are used in all farms. These figures are affected mainly by the climate and the general conditions of the place where the farm is located.