Our cofounder Mike Blakeley recently participated as a speaker at Seagriculture Conference USA. His takeaways are here and visit Seagreen Insights for more complete analysis:
Alaska is emerging as a high-potential source of farmed seaweed supply given its 1.) existing seafood infrastructure which can be leveraged to introduce seaweed farming, 2.) committed state and local government support organizations, including indigenous community leaders, that are channeling millions of dollars in grants and technical assistance to farmers and other organizations, and 3.)?high interest from U.S. and international larger scale farmers that are establishing farming operations at scale in Alaska given the vast coastal areas potentially utilized for commercial farms.
Alaska and Maine farmers need more markets for their kelp-meaning more need for business linkages to producers and end-market consumers. It was sad to hear from many farmers how they typically destroy a percentage of their harvest due to lack of markets. Seaweed in the U.S. is a case of “chicken and egg”; some feel that expansion of supply, with a goal of lowering costs and creating a stable supply of raw material is the best way to scale the U.S. industry, while others feel the investment is not warranted without further markets.
There is a high number of seaweed-focused start-ups in the U.S. and abroad that might eventually enlarge the market for existing and new seaweed U.S. farms but we are still some ways away until those companies show profitable business cases.
Seaweed needs to be promoted as an industrial biomass with multiple applications that are superior in performance and environmental sustainability. Currently most of the kelp grown in Alaska and Maine goes into food products. The market remains difficult because of perception challenges among consumers. Some companies have recently been shuttered as the alt-protein and consumer packaged goods (CPG) markets are extremely competitive.
Seagreen Insights believes the industry should and could take several steps:?
1.) Advocate to federal agencies with a stake in the growth of the seaweed sector, especially among coastal communities, to allocate more resources towards market development of seaweed products.
2.) Strive towards industry organization that transcends regional associations. As the sector in the U.S. continues to grow in terms of new companies and farmers, there will be a greater need for industry representation to drive interests of the sector regarding regulations, and standards.
3.) Ensure education programs have “buy-in” from other stakeholders: Current education efforts with seaweed are heavily focused on its environmental benefits and often contextualized as a science-based education effort, especially among K-12. By ensuring seaweed education is conducted by many groups, not only science educators, but we can also reach other audiences.
#climate #seaweed #kelp #aquaculture
