Why a Nova Scotia non-profit is casting its net for kelp

Kelp is a fast-growing, high-volume crop requiring no soil, no fertilizers and no pesticides. It grows in low light, underwater and over winter.

That’s quite a resume, making kelp a natural fit for Atlantic Canada’s existing ocean economies — especially among shellfish farmers, for whom the growing of food with rope and buoy is second nature.

“It really suits itself to small farmers, rural communities, and low capital investments,” says Shannon Arnold, associate director of marine programs with the Ecology Action Centre. “You can grow small amounts and reach economies of scale when you bring those small amounts together.”

And yet, there’s very little kelp grown in Atlantic Canada. The industry is huge in places such as Japan and has champions on the Canadian Pacific Coast (British Columbia), but in Nova Scotia, this would-be industry remains almost non-existent.

The Ecology Action Centre (EAC) — a Halifax-based environmental non-profit — aims to change that. A 2023 economic analysis, commissioned by them and written by the Philadelphia-based consultancy, Changing Tastes, described a potential kelp industry in Nova Scotia worth $38 million annually in three to five years, but only if the ball gets rolling.

The EAC decided to lead by example, taking on their own kelp lease in Mahone Bay and getting to work. Theirs is a demonstration farm, says Arnold, where people interested in joining the industry can learn the ropes. It can be done in a big or small way, she says, by boat or even just kayak.

In 2024, the EAC harvested 3,000 pounds from 250 metres of line and provided those pounds to restaurants, businesses, and wholesalers keen to experiment with kelp, either on their menus or in their products. The larger goal is to develop a kelp market, says Arnold — and not just to help kelp farmers.

“That’s really our role,” she says. “We need kelp available so we can test the market out and show people how it’s done.”

Two native Atlantic Canadian kelp species are appropriate for farming: sugar kelp and horsetail kelp, the first being ideal for direct consumption (think miso soup, salads, and food additives) and the second better suited for processed goods such as cosmetics, facial creams and even bioplastics.

The EAC’s kelp program — “Kelp Kurious” — is also active on legislation, presently the largest barrier to an industry in Atlantic Canada. Acquiring a kelp license — or even adding kelp to an existing shellfish license — routinely takes years, Arnold says. The federal government has promised a streamlined licensing process in time and Nova Scotia’s provincial government has been fast-tracking licenses in some jurisdictions, but these changes have come too late for many potential kelp farmers, several of whom — young, organized and serious — have given up on kelp for lack of a timely license.

“That’s been really frustrating,” says Arnold. “These are exactly the people we need in this industry.”

It’s not immediately obvious why an environmental non-profit would throw its weight behind kelp, until you consider just how low impact this crop can be. Because it grows quickly, underwater and without inputs of any kind, kelp’s farm-to-table carbon emissions are almost non-existent. Therein lies its power.

“The real climate benefit is when you bring it to the supply chain,” says Arnold. “Where you can substitute it for something that’s higher in carbon emissions.”

The amount of carbon saved depends very much on what’s being replaced. A local example is the Bridgewater business Helping Nature Heal, which pairs EAC kelp with mycelium to make high quality fertilizers and biostimulants. By replacing petrochemical fertilizers in the market — famously carbon intensive to produce — kelp cuts emissions at near-heroic levels.

By its very nature, kelp cuts carbon, but first we need to grow it, then use it. This is why the EAC has worked so hard to develop a market and why their kelp has ended up in everything from skin cream to focaccia. The more people who are growing it and the more uses it can find, the better, says Arnold.

The Climate Story Network is an initiative of Climate Focus, a non-profit organization dedicated to covering stories about community-driven climate solutions.