Economics Explored Seaweed: the next big thing in sustainable agriculture? w/ Scott Spillias, University of Queensland - EP188
Seaweed is being advanced as a potentially important future food source, the greater farming and consumption of which could avoid environmental impacts associated with other agricultural production, especially of beef. Scott Spillias has recently submitted a PhD thesis at the University of Queensland on seaweed farming, and he’s been getting a lot of attention regarding his findings on seaweed’s potential. Show host Gene Tunny and Tim Hughes talk with Scott about the potential of using seaweed as an alternative food source.
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What’s covered in EP188
- The importance of plant-based foods in our diets. (1:36)
- The market for plant-based foods is growing. (9:39)
- Estimating the environmental impact of food production - the Economist’s banana index. (14:03)
- Scott’ Spillias’s research on seaweed farming. (27:27)
- How do you farm seaweed? What does it involve? (30:04)
- Where can we grow seaweed in Australia? (35:14)
- Seaweed has the potential to remove 2.6 billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere per year. (40:02)
- What kind of seaweed is growing in the world? (44:49)
- How does seaweed farming prevent biodiversity loss and climate change? (49:50)
Links relevant to the conversation
Scott Spillias’s UQ page:
https://sees.uq.edu.au/profile/13311/scott-spillias
Australian ABC News article on Scott’s research “Seaweed researchers find bright future for underwater crop”:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2023-01-27/seaweed-research-uq-future-farming/101895072
Guardian Australia article on Scott’s research “Food, feed and fuel: global seaweed industry could reduce land needed for farming by 110m hectares, study finds”:
Economist article featuring the banana index:
A different way to measure the climate impact of food | The Economist
UN and World Bank reports on food and climate:
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/climate-issues/food
Chapter 5 : Food Security — Special Report on Climate Change and Land
What You Need to Know About Food Security and Climate Change
Review of scientific evidence on “Risks and benefits of consuming edible seaweeds”:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6551690/
Please note the key message of the above review:
“If the potential functional food and nutraceutical applications of seaweeds are to be realized, more evidence from human intervention studies is needed to evaluate the nutritional benefits of seaweeds and the efficacy of their purported bioactive components.”
Thanks to Obsidian Productions for mixing the episode and to the show’s sponsor, Gene’s consultancy business www.adepteconomics.com.au.
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