GreenWave

?? Come say hi tomorrow at Climate Day, part of Natural Products Expo West in L.A. Find Samantha Garwin and Grace Collery at our table to learn how regeneratively ocean farmed kelp is making waves ?? in sustainable CPG, offering innovative product opportunities and climate-smart solutions. We’d love to connect! Stop by and let’s talk seaweed as a functional ingredient and the future of better-for-the-planet products. #ExpoWest #NaturalProducts #SustainableFuture

GreenWave’s latest guide, How to Work With Buyers: Guidance for Kelp Farmers, provides a detailed roadmap for navigating sales processes and building successful buyer partnerships, covering key topics like relationship building, negotiation, and optimizing operations to support a farmer-led industry. The guide also includes practical tools such as: ?? Templates for sell sheets, term sheets, purchase agreements, and order forms ?? Example buyer personas ?? An interactive Annual Farm Calendar Calculator to help you generate a yearly farm schedule Funding for the guide and other market development work was provided through a grant from the NOAA Saltonstall-Kennedy program. View the Guide: https://ow.ly/PqGl50UU0pT

Wishing you and yours a happy new year. Thank you for everything you’ve done this year to give ocean farmers the resources they need to build a regenerative economy we can all get behind. You can still support our work at greenwave.org/donate.

Pirate Politics . . . I often get asked “What kind of folks become ocean farmers?” My answer: It’s a motley crew of contradictions. Flag-flying Trump supporters and climate activists. Social justice warriors and anti-government crusaders. Some are running 90-ft draggers, others farm from kayaks. There’s white collar, blue collar, and no collar. It’s a beautiful mess, and good to see so many shades of lived experience, hardships, viewpoints shipping out on a joint mission. The question is, what’s holding this merry band of pirates together? What’s the glue? I suspect what brings our disparate lives together is the nature of the work: it’s physical, it’s concrete, it’s meaningful. The very act of building real-world things together—hatcheries, farms, processing lines—forge common bonds. Toiling side-by-side, stories begin to flow about our struggles and triumphs. Perspectives warp, and without realizing it, against all odds, we cement in common cause. From this scaffolding, we build solidarity. I got goosebumps this year when I heard that experienced farmers volunteered to direct their $25,000 Kelp Climate Fund subsidies to beginning farmers. And again when news broke that a popular seaweed brand transferred all their assets to a farmer cooperative. Build strong bonds and crazy things will happen. I don’t know where the story of regenerative ocean farming will lead, but I do know its wellspring: Soul-filling, collaborative work with those we respect and trust. Cast your lot with us, and we’ll build a new politics out at sea. – bren Visit greenwave.org/donate to support ocean farmers

Working alongside farmers and other partners to bring our vision of a farmer-led blue economy into focus, we’ve built out resources to support a pipeline of farmers, seed producers, and entrepreneurs; advanced farm design and farmer production and marketing skills; created user-friendly tools and fostered a culture of data-driven decision making; and developed successful farmer-forward infrastructure models that will unleash North American kelp production capacity. Major companies are sitting up and taking notice, signaling concrete interest in sourcing from North American kelp farmers. Their buy-in at scale will ignite the economic, climate, and cultural promise of a multi-regional, farmer-led ocean farming industry. How do we make that happen? Help us double down on what we do best: → Listen to farmers. In Alaska and Maine, we’ll work closely with farmers to design regional solutions to drive scale nationally. → Collaborate with companies. We’ll support product development with buyers in key markets to drive sourcing from North American farmers. → Connect the dots. We’ll get folks across the supply chain—seed producers, farmers, processors, buyers large and small—working together to cement the future of the industry that supports people and planet. Visit greenwave.org/donate to learn how you can support our work!

GreenWave is grateful to our community of supporters who make our work possible. With your help, GreenWave has increased access to resources, fostered a culture of collaboration, and created new market pathways for regenerative ocean farmers. This year: ?? 7,300 people accessed tools, educational content, and community on our Ocean Farming Hub ?? 24 farmer practitioners and nursery operators forged regional connections through our new farmer cohort program ?? 51 Kelp Climate Fund farms harvested 757,500 pounds of kelp (a 200% increase in yields!) ?? 90 businesses joined Seaweed Source This Giving Tuesday, learn how you can support our work at greenwave.org/donate.

Fighting for Argentina’s Underwater Forests and Fishermen … Argentina’s kelp forests remain among the world’s most pristine, representing 30% of the current global total. However, in addition to warming waters, pollution, and disease, a surge of overharvesting of wild kelp is threatening local ecosystems and livelihoods in neighboring regions due to increasing global demand for kelp. In response to this crisis, Argentina-based grassroots marine conservation organization Por el Mar is working to safeguard these forests and find ways for the region to get ahead of the climate curve. Por el Mar is championing regenerative ocean farming as a sustainable alternative to wild harvesting while providing artisanal fishermen in the area with new economic opportunities. Read more: bit.ly/3Bnkjmv #OceanConservation #RegenerativeFarming #KelpForests #BlueEconomy #Argentina ??: Cristian Lagger

?? GreenWave is #hiring a full-time Program Communications Manager! Key responsibilities: ??? Plan, execute, and manage campaigns with engaging, high-quality content ??? Boost program visibility and engagement through SEO, digital ads, and more ?? Use data-driven insights to evaluate and optimize marketing and outreach strategies Do you thrive both independently and as part of a team? Are you detail-oriented and able to juggle multiple projects at once? Learn more and apply by October 7, 2024: https://ow.ly/2wz350TmOPW

Later this week at Seagriculture USA, GreenWave is hosting a panel of ocean farmers from Alaska and Maine. Lexa Meyer of Alaska Ocean Farms, Skye Steritz of Noble Ocean Farms, and Ken Sparta of Spartan Sea Farms will share their insights on industry challenges and the latest developments in their region. We're collecting questions for this special Ask a Farmer session and invite you to submit your questions here: https://lnkd.in/eYUPX4fi

Discover opportunities and resources to support your emerging kelp venture in the final session of our Sea to Sale series: Thriving in the Blue Economy on Tuesday, Aug 13 at 2–3 PM ET. What we’ll cover: ? How to leverage resources, including GreenWave’s Seaweed Source and value chain coordination services, to launch or scale your sourcing strategy ? Blue economy programs and financing opportunities with partners from Sustainable Ocean Alliance and Third Nature Investments ? The Keel Labs story from co-founder Aleks Gosiewski on how they went from launching their seaweed textile startup to gracing the runway at Fashion Week Reserve your spot in our free webinar now: https://lnkd.in/eYCz77fP #BlueEconomy #CircularEconomy #BioEconomy #ImpactInvesting #OceanInvestment #OceanAccelerators #SeaweedProducts #SustainableFuture #SeaweedSource #OceanFarming #RegenerativeSupplyChains