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Innovative, green, sustainable food production – Vertical Ocean Farms

Greenwave is a non-profit that is trying to come up with an alternative food production idea.

What is Greenwave’s idea?

Greenwave plans to grow seafood – seaweed, oysters, mussels, shellfish, and scallops on ropes that are anchored to buoys and hang down 6 feet below the ocean surface, but still way above the ocean floor.

Here is what they say on their website, “Our polyculture vertical farming system grows a mix of seaweeds and shellfish that require zero inputs – making it the most sustainable form of food production on the planet – while sequestering carbon and rebuilding reef ecosystems. Since our farms sit below the surface and leverage the entire water column, they produce high yields with a small footprint. Our crops are used as food, fertilizer, animal feed and more. And, our farms are open source: anyone with 20 acres, a boat, and $20,000 can be up and running within one year.”

Advantages

  • The “farming” is below the ocean surface and so doesn’t need any land.
  • Seems to be cost-effective, the farmers don’t need to “own” the land.
  • No fertilizers or pesticides.
  • High yields of seafood, which is healthy.

Disadvantages

  • Is there this large a demand for seaweed and mussels? Possibly not, but we know there is a shortage of sustainably grown pesticide-free food and this can fill the gap.

Here’s an amazing Vimeo ad from Greenwave that shows you a “visual” of how this works:

Water Brothers Animation from GreenWaveORG on Vimeo.

 

 

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