When it comes to ocean health, the work of convincing farmers to ditch their synthetic fertilizers can’t happen fast enough. And companies such as Ficosterra — which derives its name from ficos, the Greek word for algae, and terra, the Latin word for earth — believe seaweed can help transition farming back to the nature-based methods humankind used for millennia.

Seaweed’s potential as a solution to this crisis is two-fold, scientists and environmentalists say. Research has shown that offshore seaweed aquaculture can significantly reduce excess nitrogen flowing into coastal waters, while replacing synthetic fertilizers with biostimulants made from seaweed would reduce the amount of nitrogen entering the ocean from agricultural sources.

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In Europe, coastal communities from the Iberian Peninsula to the northern British Isles used seaweed to enrich infertile agricultural soils at least as far back as Roman times, researchers have found. 

Much of this knowledge was lost with industrialization, but some local traditions have continued, [The Seaweed Company cofounder Joost] Wouters said.  

“Farmers in Ireland have used seaweed for centuries,” he said. “The farmers we work with in Ireland know it works.” 

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