A new trend: farmers started to grow algae (video)

A healthy lifestyle and a balanced diet are gaining popularity. Modern consumers value not only the way food tastes but also its beneficial properties. Spirulina is algae and a superfood. Experts say that, nowadays, cultivating algae is more profitable than growing vegetables, writes “Agro-Center”.

As spirulina is becoming popular, more enterprises are starting to grow it. Farmers from the United States went even further and developed microfarms that can be installed anywhere, including cities.

An example of successful algae cultivating farm is Smart Microfarms. The company opened their first farm in 2016, where they grew spirulina all year round. The company has installed a greenhouse with a controlled atmosphere and remote web monitoring. Developers assure that such greenhouses can be installed anywhere.

“We are engaged in the cultivation of spirulina without pesticides and GMOs. The product obtained is 100% popular among vegetarians, and I can say that this small niche production of spirulina is more profitable than greenhouse cultivation of vegetables or herbs. We harvest once a week. The harvest has a consistency of creamy yogurt, then it can be frozen or dehydrated. We sell both fresh and powdered spirulina. We sell our product at local health food stores and farm markets directly to customers, and also to bars that offer healthy beverages, and through the site,”

said Robert Henrikson, CEO of Smart Microfarms.

“Small-scale cultivation of algae is now really practical. With the help of remote management tools developed by our experts, we were able to significantly reduce the number of staff. Paying workers takes a lot of money. This breakthrough in the maintenance of a microfarm, in conjunction with scalable modular growing systems, means that such a construction can be installed anywhere in the world. Smart algae microfarms created new opportunities for small village farmers. They can organize profitable production using hydroponics or aquaponics technology,”

said Robert Henrikson.
 
Spirulina is known as a superfood that gives “eternal youth”. It has a unique composition that includes more than twenty amino acids and a whole set of nutrients that are vital to humans. Such composition is more characteristic for animal products rather than plants. Spirulina also contains gamma-linolenic acid, which is found in breast milk.