GreenWave advances the regenerative ocean farming movement in North America through programs like the Kelp Climate Fund, which provides subsidies to ocean farmers to reward them for the climate benefits of their work. This project is part of The Travel Corporation’s Climate Action Plan to invest in carbon removal solutions.
Regenerative ocean farming—a zero-input, small-footprint, polyculture model that grows a mix of native seaweed and shellfish species—absorbs carbon and nitrogen, rebuilds marine ecosystems, feeds the planet, and creates viable and sustainable economic activity in coastal communities hard hit by climate change.
GreenWave’s Kelp Climate Fund (KCF) pays farmers for the climate benefits of their farms, including blue carbon, nitrogen removal, and reef restoration. The fund pays $1 per foot of kelp planted, up to $25,000 per farm. In addition to ensuring that farmers have the financial resources they need to scale their operations and weather the challenges of still-nascent market opportunities, a core goal of the program is to build a culture of data within the farming community. KCF farmers use GreenWave’s My Kelp app to measure and track crop yields and the environmental benefits of their farms.
These climate subsidies provide farmers with the resources to scale their farm infrastructure, protect against price fluctuations and extreme weather events and to demonstrate the climate impact to build community buy-in for their farms.
TreadRight’s grant will support GreenWave’s Kelp Climate Fund. The goal of the Kelp Climate Fund is to incentivize farmers to scale their regenerative ocean farming efforts. Since the program’s pilot year in FY 21/22, GreenWave has distributed $965,635 in Kelp Climate Fund subsidies to 63 farms. In FY 23/24 alone, participating farmers have:
– Planted 661,493 feet of seedstring
– Harvested 951,596 pounds of kelp
– Removed 23,790 pounds of carbon, equivalent to 1,655 miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle
– Removed 1,903 pounds of nitrogen.
By 2026, GreenWave intends to grow the Kelp Climate Fund to a pool of $1 million in annual payments to 50-60 farmers, planting 1 million feet of kelp seed.
