A Cry of Kelp: How kelp farming is good for people and the planet
“We see it as a kind of blue revolution coming,” says Jonatan Gerrbo, business developer at Nordic Seafarm.
This small company grows seaweed along the Swedish west coast and delivers it frozen or dried to the emerging Scandinavian market.
Cultivating seaweed species such as kelp or sea lettuce could provide more healthy and nutritious food for the planet’s growing population, and it could prove to be more environmentally friendly than traditional agriculture.
Reasonably sized seaweed farms have been shown to absorb CO2 and excess nutrients in the water, helping to keep the ocean clean and creating new fish habitats. In addition, seaweed farming can be good for the coastal economy: according to Seaweed for Europe coalition, this industry can create 115 thousand new jobs by 2030.
Jonatan Gerrbo, business developer, Nordic Seafarm:
“We need to grow seaweed to be able to produce food and other materials in a more sustainable way.
If you look at the agricultural and food producing side, we use far too much land and we use too much fresh water. The good thing about seaweed is that we don’t use any land at all. The only thing we need is the light from the sun and what is already in the sea.
People have been eating it in Asia for thousands of years. And the more we use it and the more we make it available to people in Europe, we can sort of get used to eating it and bring it into our own kitchens and into our own tradition.
The sea is almost endless. It’s really big and it’s three-dimensional. So it’s really space efficient to use it to grow food. It is getting better and better with the regulations and permits and such to be able to grow seaweed on a large scale. And within the next few years there will hopefully be farms all over the Swedish coast and around the coasts of Europe as well.
I can see it from an increasing demand in various fields, not only food and bioplastics and such, but also in cosmetics, nutrition and others. There is thus a wide range of different application areas. And at some point there will be a complete seaweed section in the stores. And it will be easy for the customer to choose from, from different products, for different dishes and stuff and just go home and cook it in your kitchen. So it’s going to become more and more common, I guess, in the coming years as well.”