Local businesses are getting big funding boosts to help make farmed algae part of the solution in addressing the amount of methane cattle produce. Limu kohu is most traditionally destined for poke bowls, but the distinctive-tasting seaweed is now increasingly in demand for cattle to reduce the amount of methane they burp into the atmosphere. Parker Ranch cattle are among the first of Hawaii’s livestock to be fed farmed red algae in a trial, which over the past six months reduced the amount of methane the animals belched by an average of 77%, according to Kona-based business Symbrosia.
The algae’s ability to mitigate cattle’s greenhouse gas emissions has elevated Symbrosia and Blue Ocean Barns, another limu kohu farm based in Kona, in the growing international seaweed farming industry. Fueled by its litany of potential applications and climate change-mitigating properties, the World Bank predicts the industry could be worth almost $12 billion by 2030. And that is attracting immense public and private investment interest across the globe, including in Hawaii.
The federal government awarded Symbrosia more than $2.2 million in grant funding this year, including a U.S.
Department of Agriculture organic market development grant for $1.2 million late last month. That catalytic funding will increase the 5-year-old operation’s production by 1,600%, Symbrosia CEO Alexia Akbay said.
That means just over 6,000 cattle could be eating Seagraze, the red algae product, as part of the.