Underwater strawberries and deep-sea herbs, a more sustainable alternative to land-based farming?

by Roger Rodrigo

Underwater farms are no more a figment of our imagination. Already there are viable projects that are producing vegetables including tomatoes on a regular basis.

There’s a lot of justification for taking this approach. The United Nations estimates that the world could easily be fed if just 2% of oceans were used for sustainable farming.

One of them is Nemo’s Garden, an underwater farming project consisting of six air-filled plastic pods, or biospheres, anchored at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Noli, Italy.

NGO GreenWave has developed a sustainable agricultural technique called vertical underwater farming or regenerative ocean farming.

The company grows a range of seaweed types like kelp and shellfish, including mussels and scallops, on a rope scaffolding system under the sea.

Also, there’s Bangalore-based Sea6 Energy, which has designed a tractor-like vehicle called a ‘SeaCombine’ to seed and harvest tropical underwater plants.

Read more about these exciting projects
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/07/underwater-farms-sustainable/