Liquid fertiliser / bio-stimulant

Farmers need an alternative to expensive, unsustainable, synthetic fertilisers

In Wales, seaweed has been used for centuries as a fertiliser. Using it on plants enhances nutrient uptake, improves plant health and boosts stress resistance.

It provides essential macro-nutrients such as phosphate and potassium, as well as micronutrients iron, manganese, zinc, copper, calcium and boron. It also contains natural growth hormones; auxin, cytokinin, abscisic acid, gibberellin and other active substances such as polysaccharides, betaine, sugar alcohol and phenolic compounds.

Seaweed fertiliser has a number of other benefits:

• It's grown here in Wales and doesn’t involve reliance on global markets, making our food system more resilient

• Recently the price of synthetic Haber-Bosch fertiliser (which converts hydrogen and nitrogen to ammonia) has shot through the roof due to high energy costs and supply issues. Farmers need better alternatives.

• Unlike the Haber-Bosch process, it’s made with relatively little energy, which is good news for climate change.

• It’s better for waterways, as run-off of excess synthetic fertiliser can create toxic algal blooms, damaging streams, rivers and oceans. It also helps nitrogen retention within the soil.

• It’s a lot safer (the Beirut explosion was caused by bad fertiliser storage, killing 218 people) and is non-toxic.

• It can be made using the excess waste from seaweed processing, after more valuable parts of the algae are removed.