"An organism that is too greedy and takes too much without giving anything in return destroys what it needs for life."

-Peter Wohleben (The Hidden Life of Trees)

Imagine a farm that absorbs planet warming carbon emissions, they are fireproof and require hardly any feed?

Sounds crazy? It's not because these are regenerative ocean farms.

As acres and acres of forests are burning down in wild fires including the Amazon, there has been a growing interest in regenerative ocean farms. One such technology was pioneered by Ben Smith, co-founder of Green Wave. A hunter by profession to now a climate farmer, Ben has had a dramatic transition when he realized that his dream of living a life on the ocean will never come true, if the ocean is dead.

Based on the principles of polyculture, Regenerative ocean farming by GreenWave works to mimic the diversity of ocean reefs by growing a mix of species that act in sync and nourish each other to revive ecosystems. Ocean farming eliminates the need for freshwater and zero use of fertilizers and feeds. The yield is used for food, fertilizer, animal feed, bioplastics, and more.

Each crop plays a vital role. For example, a single adult oyster can filter as much as 50 gallons of water a day. Combined with the environmental benefits of seaweed, one can now turn regenerative ocean farms into climate solution powerhouses and stack benefits by growing seaweed and shellfish together. Regenerative ocean farms are safe havens for marine life as they improve water quality and provide habitats that foster biodiversity and support the health of an array of aquatic species.

What fascinates us even more is their effort to propagate the knowledge to more fishermen and transform them into ocean farmers. GreenWave’s 10 year goal is to provide training, tools, and support to a baseline of 10,000 regenerative ocean farmers to catalyze the planting of 1 million acres and yield meaningful economic and climate impacts.

To scale, GreenWave cultivates a "Regenerative Reef" model in new regions. Each Reef includes 25 to 50 regenerative ocean farms, a land-based hatchery and processing hub, and a ring of institutional buyers and entrepreneurs developing value-added products. These Reefs are then replicated up and down coastlines.

All in all I think GreenWave is building a foundation for a new food system by keeping the environment, jobs revival and justice at the centre of their seafood platter.

Keyword : What is a circular economy?

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