Regionally produced kelp products will provide land-based farmers with a powerful new set of tools to reduce agricultural emissions and impacts. GreenWave’s R&D team is collaborating with Cornell Cooperative Extension and NC State University to measure the impact of kelp fertilizer on curbing the release of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

By mimicking environmental triggers, GreenWave’s hatchery team is researching ways to prompt kelp blades to produce reproductive tissue in a controlled lab setting. Induced sporing on a larger scale offers the potential to build a readily available kelp seed bank, giving ocean farmers a reliable head start to the growing season and reducing the dependence on wild kelp populations.

In the wake of accelerating climate change impacts, investors, philanthropists, and government agencies are pouring resources into emerging greenhouse gas emissions markets. GreenWave is working with RISE Research Institutes of Sweden to measure the carbon footprint of GreenWave’s ocean farm. Our goal is to develop foundational data in order to spur investment regenerative ocean farming and to ensure that regenerative ocean farmers benefit from the climate services they provide.

In partnership with scientists from WHOI, UConn Stamford, and the USDA Agriculture Service at Cornell, GreenWave is testing the kelp strain viability. The goal of this kelp breeding study is to identify kelp strains that will perform better in the era of climate change and tolerate offshore conditions. As a U.S. Department of Energy ARPA-E research site, GreenWave grows, harvests, and phenotypes more than 100 varieties of sugar kelp on our farm to better understand ways to improve the productivity and profit of kelp farming for food, animal feed, and biofuels.

GreenWave tests new farm designs and sensors to help farmers increase yields and climate impacts. In partnership with SoFar and NOAA, we’ve deployed cutting-edge sensor technology to push forward the next wave of predictive ocean farming. Farmers can use sensors to refine their farming methods, boost their adaptability, and measure a host of ecosystem services using farm management software.

In collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, GreenWave deployed first commercially licensed kelp farm in California to measure the per acre cost of statewide reforestation efforts. This farm will lay the groundwork for scalable Blue Carbon zones dedicated to a mix of reforestation and commercial farming that create jobs, produce food, and mitigate climate change.