The potential ‘green’ impact of harvesting seaweed on current food production is profound.
Seaweeds are a highly renewable food resource. They can be grown and harvested all year round, in any marine environment (for any temperature, depth of water or geographical location there is a species of seaweed that can grow there). Production is low impact - seaweeds need no chemicals, fertilisers or pesticides, they require no deforestation or freshwater to grow.
They don’t deplete their own environment of minerals - as over-intensive farming on the soil does. In fact seaweeds actively improve the quality of the water. Brown seaweeds ‘fix’ the nitrogen content of their surrounding water - which is used as an environmentally friendly solution to nitrogen pollution from agricultural run-off.
As the problems associated with over-intensive agriculture are ever increasing, by promoting the consumption of nutritious seaweeds as part of a balanced diet, we can start to build part of an incredible environmental solution.