Who Owns Marshallberg Farm?

IJ Won, the owner of Marshallberg Farm, was Professor of Geophysics at North Carolina State University and founder/CEO of Geophex, a geophysical instrumentations company based in Raleigh, NC. He has a BS degree in mining engineering from Seoul National University in Korea and a PhD in geophysics from Columbia University in 1973.

Towards his retirement, Dr. Won collaborated with the NC State University faculty to advance the aquaculture industry. He initially funded NCSU to establish the Marine Aquaculture Research Center (MARC) on his farm.

Starting in 2008, with help from the NCSU professors, he built an advanced recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) as a commercial scale demonstration farm and started raising Osetra Sturgeon. Only recently, after more than ten years, the fish started producing caviar, their main commercial product.

In 2017, he acquired another sturgeon farm in Lenoir, NC, now known as Marshallberg Farm West. The two farms make the largest RAS sturgeon farm in North America. In addition to a small but critically important staff, Dr. Won is joined by Lianne, his daughter, and her husband, Brian to operate and manage the farm, and occasionally his wife, Sue, and two sons, Eugene and Henry.

Dr. Won recently wrote an essay entitled, “A Sturgeon Farmer’s Tale,” in the Aquaculture North America magazine, reflecting upon how he got into this and why we should continue advancing the aquaculture technology and industry.

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David 12/23/22

Classic Osetra Caviar

I'm blown away with the quality and taste of your Caviar. I was a first time buyer and I didn't know what to expect. I've never had 100% authentic caviar and all I can say was WOW!!!! I definitely can't afford to buy this on a regular basis but I can tell you I might sneak in an anniversary and maybe even a birthday. No one in my family eats it except me, I HAVE IT ALL to myself. I received it in great packaging and it was ice cold. I was going to wait until Christmas to open a tin but I couldn't wait. I was like a kid in a candy store. I paired with the potato Latkes recipe from your website. Absolutely incredible. The only regret I have is I should have ordered a larger tin. Thank you so much. Merry Christmas

Libby Liles 09/05/22

Products from Marshallberg Farm have added a new dimension of excellence to our family gatherings. We have enjoyed the flavorful smoked sturgeon, creamy smoked sturgeon spread and, of course, the decadent Osetra caviar. The quality and flavor of these products simply cannot be surpassed and we look forward to enjoying them at future family gatherings.

JLossada 04/14/22

Royal Osetra

Simply sublime in terms of taste, color and texture! Overall, it exceeded my expectations. I look forward to my next purchase. The value of this product is amazing.

Stephen Anderson 02/20/22

Excellent. My wife and I had the royal ossetra in a three-way test against two top-shelf imported caviars (another ossetra and a beluga hybrid), and this one more than held its own. Nice firm eggs, with a distinct flavor and just a little saltiness.

Matt F. 01/03/22

Premium Osetra Sampler

We received our caviar delivery in anticipation of making our New Year’s Eve an unforgettable evening. Even with high expectations, we were absolutely blown away with the quality and flavor of everything we received. It was truly one of the greatest at-home food experiences we’ve ever had. I also highly suggest the smoked sturgeon filet. It will not get better than a bite of Caviar on Sturgeon! I will be dreaming about this until we place our next order!!

Viktoria Sikora 01/01/22

This product EXCEEDED my expectations! It matched my memories of the "real deal" from many years ago and definitely exceeded all the other tries to duplicate that experience since. I brought it to a NYE party which proved to be a HUGE hit among very discriminating friends. Thank you and I look forward to celebrating with your product again. Worth every cent. Viktoria Sikora

Joy 12/26/21

We did a Christmas Eve caviar tasting. 2 grocery store roes, one French caviar, and 2 from The Caviar Farm. There was a night and day difference. The NC caviars were by far the best. I highly recommend their products !

B Buckley 12/21/21

Every product is delicious. I will never order Russian caviar again. What a pleasure to find such quality in a NC product. The Ossetra is the best I have had including the Russian Tea Room and Petrossian in NY.

David Greenblatt 11/26/21

Gold Reserve

The golden was the best caviar we have had!!! Agreed by all, truly the golden was amazing!!! We have been eating Marshallberg’s for years. We have compared it to the best we have had. Hands down Marshallberg’s the best!!! We have shared it with Michelin chef friends and industry experts, The vote is always the same, the best. I have Persian friends that bring us caviar from Iran. This goes toe to toe.

Ron 10/29/21

I have tried many different sources for caviar and Marshallberg Farm is simply the best. The flavor was what I was looking for and the texture was magnificent. The product came arrived at the perfect temperature because the packaging was the best I have ever seen. A terrific experience from start to finish.