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Nutrient-rich
seaweed has been popping up on grocery store shelves and restaurant menus
more and more lately, and for good reason. A new study has
explored the myriad potential benefits of expanding seaweed farming around the
globe, which include fighting food insecurity and lessening
the effects of climate change.
Published last week in the journal Nature Sustainability, the study
found that leaning more on seaweed could help reduce agricultural emissions by up
to 2.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent each year.
The researchers also ran a scenario in which they substituted 10% of human
diets worldwide with seaweed products, which decreased the amount of land
needed for traditional farming by more than 271 million acres. This could
help lessen water and fertilizer use as well, the study noted.
“Seaweed has great commercial and environmental potential as a nutritious
food and a building block for commercial products including animal feed,
plastics, fibers, diesel, and ethanol,” lead author Scott
Spillias said in a press release.
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