Morgan-Lea Fogg | Maine
With the kelp season in full swing, we’re eager to continue telling the stories of women leading the regenerative ocean farming industry. So far we’ve met scientists, policy experts, farmers and now Morgan-Lea Fogg who has a sweeping perspective of sea greens. She is both an ocean farmer in her native Maine and the Director of Impact & Special Projects for Akua, an emerging kelp foods company.
Drawn to the environmental benefits of regenerative ocean farming, she reached out to GreenWave to learn the nuts and bolts about getting a farm up and running. For Morgan, GreenWave made important industry connections to kelp processors and distributors who supported her in the beginning stages of her farm and market planning. In 2017, Morgan launched Nautical Farms in Machiasport, Maine with husband—and lobsterman—Jake. This year marks Nautical Farms’ second season. Already they’ve added more kelp lines to fill their farm, and have hopes to expand their crop list to include shellfish and other species of sea greens like dulce and skinny kelp.
During the planning phase of her farm, Morgan was invited to join AKUA—a company that strives to become the household name for sea greens-based foods in the United States. Inspired to provide plant-based, travel-friendly snacks, AKUA has developed a line of kelp-based jerky using sea greens from Nautical Farms. Morgan manages negotiations with kelp processors and tracks the kelp supply for the company. As AKUA’s resident farmer, she has a unique understanding of every level of the kelp transformation process. Morgan continuously seeks creative ways to support every level of the regenerative ocean farming industry; along with AKUA founder Courtney Boyd Myers, they organized the “Bike the Shoreline” fundraiser and donated $20K towards GreenWave programming focused on training a new generation of regenerative ocean farmers.
As an advocate of the cooperative nature of this industry, Morgan is dedicated to fostering conversations around the integration of regenerative ocean farming practices to complement Machiasport’s well-established fishing community. Slowly, fishermen are turning to the idea and learning the ways regenerative ocean farming can be ecologically beneficial and economically supplemental to their current operations. Morgan looks forward to deepening these conversations and continuing to collaborate with other women farmers and entrepreneurs.