2 Nov 2021

Snail farming, how to make money from it

From Afternoons, 1:30 pm on 2 November 2021

Snails - most gardeners don't like them for their tendency to chew through seedlings, and leafy greens. 

But Linde Olivier Louwe - a former office manager - has turned to snail farming into a full time job and she's putting together a snail farmers' handbook so others can join her. 

Louwe says the idea came to her during last year’s lockdown.

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Photo: 123rf

“I had some time to think and really look at my life and I was really over the office. I just needed a change and I really enjoy working outdoors and, of course, I enjoy eating escargot.”

She says she had a look online to see where to source escargot and found that people were importing them, but no one was farming them locally.

“There had been a farm once but it hadn’t been very successful because they ran out of water.”

Louwe says snail farming is a billion dollar market worldwide and the majority of farms in Europe, predominantly France.

“A lot of people eat the snails but there’s a lot of other products you can make from snails as well. That’s what really got me started thinking about it.”

Louwe decided to expedite her long term plan to buy a house in Port Charles and set up a snail farm there. She’s getting equipped with a breeding room, nursery, and vegetable garden for the snails. The snails are kept in their place with specially made electric fences that give them a little tickle.

“They’re great escape artists, they love to escape, they go everywhere.”

The snails are also at risk from virtually every animal from mice and birds to pigs and dogs, so they’re pens need to be kept secure from predators.

She says the garden variety snail in New Zealand is the type that is really fancied by restaurants and owners of French joints in particular have been in touch with her.

“It’s really encouraging to see the excitement out there for snail farming in New Zealand. I’m very excited about it.”