Developing Asparagopsis cultivation at scale for rapid industry growth

Summary

AgriFutures Australia identified ‘Seaweed’ as one of the most attractive emerging
aquaculture industries Australia-wide. The Red Seaweed, Asparagopsis spp, when fed
to cattle in small quantities, can mitigate harmful methane emissions from the livestock
industry by up to 98%. Asparagopsis could become the ‘wheat crop’ of Australia’s
oceans, and is the key to a world first, carbon neutral meat™, grown and processed
here in Australia.

To drive this emerging industry forward, we have convened a consortium of partners
with a demonstrated ability to deliver commercial products. Our consortium includes
world-class researchers, aquaculture enterprises, carbon abatement entities, cattle
producers and feed nutritionists, and investors actively looking to establish scaled
Asparagopsis production utilising the output of this research. Together, we will
accelerate the seaweed industry by fast-tracking key research and developing an
Asparagopsis supply chain in Western Australia.

To assess current Asparagopsis aquaculture practice and identify best practice and
opportunities for innovation, we consulted locally and internationally, and reviewed
existing literature. Our consortium concluded there are no clear aquaculture methods or
well-developed supply chains to reliably scale-up production here in Australia.
We’ve since conceived a pathway forward, focused on developing methodologies to
produce reliable, high quality seed-stock and seeding technologies, testing and
optimising the grow-out capability within pond- and ocean-based aquaculture leases,
developing the chemical analytical capability to ensure quality control of the seaweed
product, and unlocking a pathway to commercialisation through the supply chain that
exists within our consortium and industry links

Program

New and Emerging Industries

Research organisation

University of Western Australia

Objective summary

To optimise cultivation techniques to reliably produce seed stock, scale up seed stock cultures, trial grow-out capability within ponds and ocean-based integrated farming systems, develop local chemical analytical capability and conceptualise the supply chain to fast track the product to market.