Sea Forest plans to expand its Swansea operations for methane reducing supplement

A Tasmanian company which grows a special seaweed to create a methane reducing supplement for livestock is set for a huge expansion, which could up its production 100-fold.

New habitat on the marine farm. Tasmanian company Sea Forest in Swansea is expanding. Image: Sea Forest.

A Tasmanian company which grows a special type of seaweed to create a methane mitigating product looks set for a mammoth expansion, one which could increase production by 100 times.

Sea Forest takes a red seaweed, called asparagopsis, and creates a dietary supplement out of it, which, when fed to livestock, nearly eliminates their methane production.

In the lab at Tasmanian company Sea Forest in Swansea, which is expanding. Image: Sea Forest.

“The outcome was originally discovered by the CSIRO, they fed a variety of different seaweed,” Sea Forest CEO Sam Elsom said.

“They found the asparagopsis effectively eliminated methane emissions.

“The seaweed reacts with reacts with enzymes in the stomach of livestock that stops the production of methane in the stomach.”

Sea Forest CEO Sam Elsom at Blundstone Arena. Picture: Chris Kidd

He said it had huge environmental benefits.

“It’s the equivalent of 10 million tonnes of Co2 being avoided. It’s the equivalent of taking 10 million cars off the road,” he said.

“And the water we discharge is more alkaline than the water we draw in – the seaweed is capturing the carbon.”

The company is now seeking a permit to upgrade its Swansea facility.

On the marine farm at Tasmanian company Sea Forest in Swansea, which is expanding. Image: Sea Forest.

Mr Elsom said there was growing demand for the product, prompting the need for expansion.

Last month the company signed an agreement with a UK supermarket chain.

“Our supply has been driven by demand rather than capacity,” he said.

“From a commercial perspective, we’ve now got quite a few companies around Australia using the product.

“To date we’ve been feeding less than 40,000 head of livestock (per day). With the expansion, that number could go to four million head of livestock, significantly more than what we’re doing.

Asparagopsis in the marine farm. Tasmanian company Sea Forest in Swansea is expanding. Image: Sea Forest.

Mr Elsom said the expansion was “hugely important” for Australian agriculture.

“Australia has been 28 million head of cattle. We hope to continue to feed more and more animals,” he said.

“We’ve tried to prioritise Tassie farmers.

“We’ve always felt from beginning this was a novel discovery, that required to be taken seriously, we needed to show both the industry and government we could get this to a certain scale.”

“Now we’re looking to get to the next level of scale, that site allows us to do that.

“It means a huge number of jobs, we’ve got a huge number of employees, we’ve got new infrastructure being put in.”