Organic Certification for Cultivated Seaweed?
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Curious to know what others think about an organic certification for farmed kelp. According to the Edible Seaweed Market Analysis, the seaweed industry is split on the topic. Proponents cite the health halo and higher price point, whereas others express concern about how realistic and expensive an ocean-based organic certification might be. Federally, there is a standard to certify wild harvested kelp as organic, but it does not apply to cultivated kelp. I’ve heard buyers express interest in purchasing certified organic seaweed, and am wondering if this has come up for others trying to sell/purchase seaweed? Any farmers who are hoping to obtain organic certification but have not been able to? I also wanted to share a few resources related to organic certification to help those who might be looking into it!
Soil Association Seaweed Standards (based on the UK), MOFGA Guidelines for Sea Vegetables (specific to Maine and may not apply elsewhere)
@grace_collery - Wow, this is a really interesting question, and I'd love to hear people's thoughts on it, too! Given that one of the benefits of seaweed and multispecies aquaculture is remediating agricultural pollution from both organic and non-organic fertilizers, this seems like an area where we'd have to tread very carefully to accurately represent cultivated seaweed products.
@grace_collery - Maybe of interest: There are a handful of farms and/or seaweed seed producers (in ME and AK) that have achieved some level of organic status. Blue Evolution received organic certification for their tank-cultured sea lettuce, grown in Baja, CA, for example. And Seagrove Kelp Co. recently received 100% organic status for their kelp products--they have their own hatchery and grow multiple species on longlines in Doyle Bay, Alaska.