Creating New Revenue Streams for Kelp Farmers through Mycelium-Based Biomaterials

Commodities

• Miscellaneous: mushrooms, seaweed

Practices

• Farm Business Management: new enterprise development, value added
• Sustainable Communities: sustainability measures

Kelp farming is widely recognized as one of the most sustainable forms of agriculture, offering significant environmental benefits including habitat creation and improved water quality. However, despite rapid growth in the Northeastern United States, the industry continues to face a critical barrier: limited and underdeveloped market opportunities. This constraint reduces farm profitability, limits industry expansion, and slows the adoption of kelp beyond food based applications. This 10 month long project, "Creating New Revenue Streams for Kelp Farmers through Mycelium Based Biomaterials," addresses this challenge by developing a novel composite material that combines sugar kelp with mushroom mycelium, while creating an outreach initiative that directly connects sustainable businesses with farmers while expanding market capabilities.

The first research based objective is to create a low cost, low processing biomaterial that demonstrates a viable non-food market pathway for kelp. This objective is to establish a simplified kelp processing method that can be adopted by farmers and manufacturers to reduce energy inputs and improve accessibility for material production, while offering a tangible use case for a scalable product. By utilizing previously validated laboratory methods for growing mushroom mycelium, Mud Rat in collaboration with Violet Cove Kelp will combine mycelia with processed sugar kelp to create a composite foam alternative. Material will be tested in house for mechanical specifications and prioritize manufacturing simplicity. The second outreach objective is to leverage existing aquaculture education resources, stakeholder networks, and business partnerships across the Northeastern United States to convene a first of its kind market expansion event. This initiative will directly connect kelp farmers with sustainable materials buyers, establish clear communication pathways between producers and clients, and strengthen the long term expansion and stability of kelp markets. This objective will establish a replicable framework to facilitate collaboration and connection among businesses operating across diverse applications and farmers working within specialized production systems, thereby supporting sustained market viability and cross sector agricultural growth. Results of both objectives will be posted publicly and disseminated through relevant media channels.

For this SARE research effort our research questions are;

• Can mycelium and kelp create a successful low processing material?
• Can connection between businesses and farmers create a meaningful impact on the kelp industry?

By answering this research question we would validate subsequent project objectives and ultimately achieve the project goal of expanding market applications and job opportunities within kelp farming in the Northeast region.

Our objectives of this SARE research effort are:

1. Develop a low processing method for sugar kelp
2. Create a minimal viable prototype of mycelium kelp composite material
3. Establish long standing connection between farm and business stakeholders

A result of these objectives will solidify the foundation that supports economic viability and market expansion of kelp farming. By developing a low processing method of kelp we address one of the pain points to utilizing kelp as a material which is the high cost and energy requirements associated with producing kelp based products. Using this low processing method, we will leverage prior experience in mycelium manufacturing to integrate its inherently low energy growth process with processed kelp, producing a bulk material as a minimum viable prototype (MVP). Finally, once the minimum viable prototype is achieved and both material viability and processing methods are validated, the establishment of a formal outreach days and formal connection will strengthen communication and awareness between kelp farmers and business stakeholders. This effort will connect new customers with producers while positioning kelp as an accessible and versatile crop suitable for a wider range of applications beyond high cost use cases.