TD’s Own Oyster Farm in Ft Morgan Getting Love

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Dr. Chuck Wilson, Dr. John Supan and Eric Bradley are partners in Navy Cove Oysters in Fort Morgan, Alabama. Bradley does day-to-day farm chores but also spearheads the brand’s marketing. Wilson and Supan are marine biologists, both retired from LSU, where for 34 years, Supan was the oyster aquaculture specialist. “My job was to teach people how to grow oysters off bottom and to foster oyster hatcheries,” he says. Wilson was a Professor and Director of Louisiana Sea Grant at LSU and Supan’s boss for a time. “We worked together for years, and we developed a great friendship,” Wilson says.

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Bradley came on board as a partner in 2016, where his marketing and social media skills complement Wilson’s and Supan’s oyster experience. “He’s in his 40s, so he’s young, and he’s hip,” Supan says. “He’s doing a great job with our social media.” And Bradely does bring some agricultural background; he’s from a crawfish farming family in Louisiana.

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That expertise is a plus, as is Bradley’s storytelling work that’s keeping appetites whetted. But Wilson stresses the key element of success: Their oysters are good. “They’re fat, buttery and salty,” he says. “And sometimes, they’re really salty.” Others agree. Navy Cove had its best sales this year and has 1 million oysters in the water to be harvested in 2023. Diners can currently find them along the Alabama coast and in Birmingham; in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Columbus and Atlanta, Georgia; Galveston, Texas; and sometimes in Houston too. “We hope to be back in New Orleans soon,” Wilson says. They even sold out recently. “That’s good, but we don’t want to do that too often.” Wilson says. “We want to stay in people’s minds.”

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