[ AQUACULTURE FEED ]
Aquaculture pellets
Sinking fermented pellets for fish and shrimp operations, sized for low fines.
- Status
- In trials
- Format
- Sized to species (typically 4–8 mm)
[ LIVING-CULTURE PELLETS ]
Prem-Line™
Live cultures, delivered in pellet form — for fish, shrimp, and the soil growers depend on.
Most pelleting cooks the culture off. Ours doesn't — a low-temperature process carries a defined, living fermentation culture into a stable, shippable pellet. Aquaculture feed pellets and soil-amending pellets for growers: one platform, formulations tuned to each.
Activetrials
Field trials underway
3lines
Product lines
Pilotscale
Production stage, scaling up
[ YEARS IN FERMENTATION ]
Started in soil and plant inputs
[ DEFINED CULTURE ]
Microbes we chose, not wild ferment
[ FERMENTED, NOT SYNTHETIC ]
Live culture and plant feedstocks
[ PRODUCT RANGE ]
Product range
Four product lines, one fermentation process behind all of them — feed and soil alike.
[ SOIL AMENDMENT ]
Soil-amending pellets
Bokashi-fermented soil inputs for growers and orchardists. Pelletized for handling and even broadcast application.
- Status
- In trials
- Format
- Round 6 mm
[ CUSTOM ]
Custom formulations
Specialty pellets for specific species, soils, or production systems. Available to trial customers with sustained volume needs.
- Status
- On request
- Format
- Specified per engagement
[ WHO WE ARE ]
Who we are
[ HOW WE GOT HERE ]
It started with bokashi — bran fermented with a living culture, then dried into something shelf-stable that's still alive in the bag. That was the proof: dry doesn't have to mean dead. What kills a culture is heat, and pelleting usually runs hot enough to cook it off. Years of bokashi here in Northern Michigan got us the fix — pellet cold, and the culture rides into the pellet the way it rides in the bran. Aquaculture and soil are in trials now.
- Based in
- Antrim County, Northern Michigan
- What we make
- Living-culture feed and soil pellets
- Product lines
- Aquaculture, soil amendment, custom
- Who it's for
- Growers and producers after fermented inputs
- Go-to-market
- Direct, regional
[ WHY PARTNER ]
We actually ferment
Hands-on fermentation we've done for years — not a buzzword printed on a bag.
Feed and soil, both
Most ag outfits pick one side. The same fermentation runs under everything we make.
By design, not by chance
It runs on a defined community of beneficial microbes, chosen deliberately for the job, so batches are built to come out consistent rather than left to chance.
The pellet's still alive
The whole point: the live culture survives into the finished pellet, where most processes would have cooked it off.
The timing's right
Growers and producers are looking for living, biological inputs. We're already making them.
Local, and here to stay
Northern Michigan, building supplier and customer relationships we mean to keep.
[ OUR APPROACH ]
Regeneration, not putrefaction
Organic matter goes one of two ways — it ferments, or it rots. Our work sits entirely on the fermentation side, and on keeping the microbes that do that work alive all the way to the bag.
Lead, don't sterilize
A defined, beneficial culture sets the direction of a ferment. Establish the right community and the rest follows — fermentation instead of spoilage, without reaching for synthetic preservatives.
Living, not spent
The value is in microbes that are still alive. Our low-temperature process is built to deliver a living culture into the finished pellet — not the cooked-off residue of one.
A community, not a strain
Diverse organisms that support one another do what no single strain can. We work with a defined consortium — not a wild ferment, and not a one-bug additive.
[ TECHNOLOGY ]
Technology advantage
The same fermentation science behind cultured feeds, run with a culture we actually chose. It pre-digests the ingredients, builds up the acidity that keeps a ferment stable, and knocks down anti-nutritional factors — all before anything gets pelletized.
Defined microbial consortium
Our process runs on a defined, proprietary starter culture — not uncontrolled wild fermentation. A known consortium is what lets us aim for a controlled, repeatable result batch to batch, rather than whatever the air provides.
Enzymatic pre-digestion
Microbial proteases and amylases break complex proteins into peptides and amino acids, and starches into simpler sugars — work the culture does on the ingredient before it is ever pelletized.
Organic-acid stability
Lactic acid bacteria convert sugars into organic acids and lower pH. That acidity is what defines a finished ferment, and it's what the pellet relies on to stay stable — the same principle that keeps any ferment from spoiling.
Reduced anti-nutritional factors
Microbial enzyme activity lowers the anti-nutritional compounds native to raw plant ingredients — phytates, tannins, and trypsin inhibitors. That's a well-documented effect of fermentation, not a claim unique to us.
Live culture, retained
Our proprietary low-temperature process is built to carry the fermentation culture through to the finished pellet — live cells, not spent residue. Conventional pelleting cooks that culture off; ours is engineered to protect it.
Fermented, not synthetic
Production is built on fermented plant feedstocks and microbial culture — not synthetic additives.
[ HOW IT DIFFERS ]
Conventional pelleting vs. Prem-Line
Conventional feed and soil pellets are made with a hot cook step that sterilizes the product, so any live culture dies in manufacturing. Prem-Line uses a proprietary low-temperature process that carries a defined, living microbial consortium into the finished pellet.
| Dimension | Conventional pelleting | Prem-Line |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing temperature | Hot extrusion / steam conditioning — a cook step | Proprietary low-temperature process — no cook step |
| Live culture in finished pellet | Sterilized in manufacturing — live cultures die | Engineered to carry living cultures into the pellet |
| What the microbes are | Often a single heat-resistant strain, or none | A defined, multi-organism consortium |
| Ingredient pre-digestion | Minimal — ingredients largely unchanged | Fermented and enzymatically pre-digested before pelleting |
| Anti-nutritional factors | Carried through largely intact | Lowered by microbial enzyme activity during fermentation |
| Applications from one platform | Typically a single product category | Aquaculture feed, soil amendment, and custom |
[ INFRASTRUCTURE ]
Manufacturing infrastructure
[ PILOT STAGE ]
Low-temperature pelleting line
- Pilot-scale line, scaling toward larger volumes
- Proprietary low-temperature pelleting, engineered to retain live culture (process held confidential)
- Carries live cultures into the finished pellet
[ INGREDIENT PREP ]
Hammer mill
- Food-grade construction
- Mills raw ingredients to the particle size the process needs
- Prepares feedstock for fermentation and pelleting
[ BLENDING ]
Mixing system
- Blends and conditions ingredients ahead of pelleting
- Moisture and blend-uniformity control
[ CLIMATE CONTROLLED ]
Controlled-environment space
- Climate-controlled processing area
- Used for fermentation and product finishing
- Supports year-round operation
[ WHERE THINGS STAND ]
Development timeline
-
Up and running
The facility is built and running — pelleting line, hammer mill, mixer, and a climate-controlled space — with our fermentation process and quality checks in place.
-
Samples and field trials
We're running batches and getting samples out to real aquaculture and soil operations for evaluation. The point right now is simple: see how it holds up out in the field.
-
Refine and scale
Take what the trials tell us, adjust the recipes and the process, and build up enough output to supply more customers.
-
Grow the customer base
Add customers as the results come in, add capacity to keep up, and grow our footprint across the region.
[ CONTACT ]
Get in touch
We're early-stage and mostly heads-down on the work. If you want to learn more, talk about a trial, or just see what we're making, we're easy to reach.
info@prem-line.com