Vertical Seaweed Farming
Rethinking Space and Control
Vertical Seaweed Cultivation is a collaborative project by Seaweedland and engineering partner Zweva, supported through an MIT R&D grant from the Dutch government. The project explores a new way of cultivating seaweed on land by stacking cultivation systems vertically, inspired by principles from vertical farming.
The aim is to increase productivity per square meter while maintaining precise control over key challenges in land-based seaweed cultivation today: growth conditions, quality and consistency.
Conventional land-based seaweed cultivation typically takes place in single-layer raceways, where much of the available space and light is underutilised. This project investigates how vertical, modular systems can make more efficient use of space, enabling higher yields without additional land or freshwater use.
The focus is on developing and testing a scalable vertical cultivation system that integrates lighting, water circulation and monitoring technology. Particular attention is given to species such as Asparagopsis, which shows strong potential for applications in methane reduction in livestock feed.
By combining Seaweedland’s cultivation expertise with Zweva’s experience in modular system design and production, the project lays the foundation for a next generation of land-based seaweed cultivation systems that are compact, controllable and ready for future scale-up.
