Seaweed Production in Lofoten

Lofoten Blue Harvest produced seaweed from 2016 - 2021, but decided to halt the production to focus more on development projects. It is clear that seaweed production has a long way to go, it needs a lot more development and investment. This is true for the entire value chain. Current production methods are neither profitable nor scalable, and so as a matter of necessity we decided to start a new company, Blue Harvest Technologies.

Value Chain Problems

You could argue that seaweed production is not viable because we don't have a good market to sell to. Well, the market doesn't want to buy unprocessed, unstandardized seaweed at a high price, with uncertain yields and varying quality every season. Some of these things could be mitigated by having better quality seed, better biological processes and seeding methods, but nobody wants to invest in that because there isn't a market for it as long as the seaweed producers don't have a market for its seaweed, but nobody wants to invest in product development if the biomass is too expensive, unstandardized with varying quality and uncertain yields. It's a snake eating its own tail, a classic chicken-and-egg problem.

Somebody needs to take some bold first steps, followed by others taking some steps elsewhere in the value chain. There is a need for specialization to make each step efficient. We believe that reducing the price of the biomass by creating a highly efficient and automated cultivation system for seaweed will send a signal downstream that it's time to start investing in processing. That is why Blue Harvest Technologies exists, and we have developed a prototype that will revolutionize the way we think of seaweed cultivation. It's a permanent underwater system, highly mechanized, fast and cost-efficient, it is called Loop Farm®.

We will be occupied with this project in the foreseeable future, but will return to seaweed farming once we have established the start of a viable value chain for seaweed that actually works. All the resources we spent in the years trying everything from direct seeding, twine seeding, direct-incubation seeding, building the harvesting rig, developing a production chain with fermenting, drying and freezeing of seaweed have been converted into the knowhow and experience that is now invested in Blue Harvest Technologies.

Visit our website at www.blueharvesttechnologies.com to learn about the new system, or click here to see the old page on how we used to produce seaweed up until 2021.