Seaweed Biostimulants: White Paper and Farmer Brief

For centuries, farmed seaweed has played a central role in coastal economies, cultures, and diets. Now, this humble crop is being hyped for its environmental benefits, including nutrient filtration, habitat provisioning, and climate mitigation. But as seaweed production grows, it’s important that markets grow in tandem, providing farmers with fair and stable prices. A recent report identified biostimulants as one of the most promising markets to drive demand for farmed seaweed—and it could boost sustainable agriculture too, by enhancing plant growth, increasing stress tolerance, and improving soil health.

Recognizing the potential of seaweed biostimulants in aquatic and terrestrial food systems, The Nature Conservancy, The World Bank, and Hatch Blue and convened ~90 leaders across seaweed farming, biostimulant innovation, agriculture, science, investment, and government to share knowledge, research, and opportunities for scaling the market over the next 3–5 years.

The findings of this roundtable session are summarized in a recently published Seaweed Biostimulants Roadmap and White Paper, which lays out a clear pathway to scale the industry through strategic investments, enabling policies and regulatory frameworks, research and innovation, and cross-sector collaboration. For seaweed farmers who are interested in entering the biostimulants market, an accompanying Farmer Brief  provides more information about the sector, from species selection and cultivation systems to processing methods, pricing considerations, and business models.