Agrisea was initially built to solve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 2, No Hunger. In 2018, when we started our process, as founders we both thought it was ridiculous that hunger could still be so prevalent throughout our society. As we grew and became the company we are today, we realised we held a unique opportunity to change the very fabric of our food and agricultural system.
A complete overhaul with sustainability as a core focus of agricultural development. Together we built a vision of the agricultural system that integrates planetary longevity with sustainable resource management and promotes ecosystem integrity. All of these components work together to solve world hunger and provide permanent food security for all of our futures.
We see Agrisea an ocean agriculture company, as the gateway to a truly sustainable future. To us, we can all be a part of Agrisea.
Growing rice in the ocean
Agrisea is developing oceanic salt-tolerant crops by identifying the genes in organisms such as mangroves and seagrasses that allow them to activate salt tolerance and thrive in the oceans. Rice, for example, has these same genes, and technology encourages the expression of these genes to create crops that have gained the ability to grow in oceanic salt conditions.
The genetic design is based on four key pillars that have been individually proven through in-depth academic research over the past 70 years. These four pillars manage the salt concentrations between our plants and their environment. The company is currently commercialising its technology by licensing it for specific crops to agriculture companies to grow.
As Agrisea scales, we will focus on the supply of agricultural goods, e.g. staple crops – rice and alternative protein sources – soybean and mungbean, by deploying our own farms in coastal waters as a means of sustainable food production. Now, more than ever, our second phase is ever important to replace the demand generated for alternative protein sources that taste excellent as we move away from high-density livestock production.
From rural England to the salt deltas of Vietnam
Agrisea started as an idea in a bedroom of a small village in the rural North of England. Through the friendship and vision bound by Rory and Luke, Agrisea has evolved into an international brand and company. One of our greatest achievement came as the graduation from IndieBio, the world’s most successful biotech accelerator programme.
Four months in the heart of San Francisco, meeting goliath corporations, monumental investors, and building a network spanning continents.
Expanding from those four months and our final event of the IndieBio Demo Day, where we presented to 3,000 people split between our physical crowd and virtual viewers, Agrisea has continued to grow and build the foundations of an agricultural system that will change the fabric of the food industry.
Some highlights include our confirmed plan to create a pilot plot site and field lab on the coastline of Grand Bahama Island to support circular economies in the Caribbean and building relationships with key seed distributors across ASEAN, including starting our first contract to convert Vietnamese rice varieties for application in the Mekong Delta.
Inroads into Asia
Amid all the concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic, it is thrilling to be a part of a community working to build the world of post-COVID-19. We are excited to begin partnering with representatives from the entire Asian region and elated to be part of the Future Food Asia 2020 cohort of finalists. It is an honour to be recognised for our role in the world we are trying to build. It provides us with the opportunity to integrate deeper into the Asia wide innovation network that is critical for us to build the world we so often refer to.
A vision to grow more with less
Agrisea’s vision and supporting technology have the potential to redesign the industry. The fundamentals of agriculture have existed for 12,000 years without strong deviation from the existing model. Agrisea changes the fundamental assumptions to redesign why and how we produce our food.
We believe that food production does not have to come at the cost of our natural world and is proving that we can produce more food, with fewer resources and in locations previously considered infertile all while supporting the integration of the human and natural worlds for planetary longevity.
But Agrisea is such a colossal vision and disruptive technology that for us it is so important to work with environmentally and culturally conscious partners to ensure the best implementation and adoption of our technology across regions and borders.
We are also very aware of the public’s perception of new technology; we wish to clearly educate and share our vision so that everyone from the grower to the consumer can understand and align on why Agrisea exists and why we want to bring about sustainable change for the world.
source: e27
