Looking for a nutrient-rich, all-natural food that is environmentally friendly and helps sustain the economy of local fishing communities? Then never fear! Kelp is here!

Kelp is one of the key ingredients that make up Thorne’s new greens-powdered drink, Thorne’s Daily Greens Plus. Although kelp has been part of the traditional diet of many coastal cultures for generations, there is increasing interest in its nutritional, environmental, and socio-economic value, particularly in an era of climate change. An innovative company in Maine is using kelp to mitigate the effects of climate change and help strengthen the economy of local fishing communities. Let’s take a closer look.

Kelp and your Health

Kelp is a large, brown-colored type of seaweed that grows in shallow coastal waters all over the world. It can be eaten raw or cooked and has been a key component in the cuisine of diverse cultures for generations, from Asia to Scandinavia.

Kelp is nutrient-dense and low in calories. For example, a 2-ounce serving of fresh raw kelp is only 25 calories and contains nearly 20 different vitamins and minerals, particularly calcium, vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids, and iodine. This is especially beneficial for individuals on plant-based diets, where adequate intake of these nutrients can be a challenge. Furthermore, kelp contains anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds, which has led researchers to investigate possible health-promoting applications related to blood-sugar metabolism, cardiovascular health, gut health, and more.*

Kelp and the Environment 

We’ve all seen kelp forests in movies or on television, usually serving as an enchanting backdrop where otters and seals play and varieties of fish dart in and out among the long fronds – an idyllic scene for sure. Beyond these beautiful images, kelp forests play a key role in mitigating the negative effects of global climate change.

A significant portion of carbon and nitrogen emissions ends up in the oceans, altering the pH balance of the waters, making them more acidic and less habitable for marine plants and animals. Fortunately, kelp does an excellent job of absorbing carbon and nitrogen from the environment. Kelp grows very rapidly (up to two feet per day) and can send much of its biomass out into the deep sea, where it can then sequester carbon dioxide and nitrogen from the surrounding waters. In fact, kelp forests can potentially sequester up to 20 times more carbon per acre than land forests. By doing this, kelp forests help maintain proper pH balance in the waters around it, creating a halo of refuge for plant and animal life to thrive. Research has demonstrated this beneficial halo effect can be achieved in kelp farms, using mussel shells as a marker. Researchers compared the health of mussels at various distances inside and outside the kelp farm and found the mussels within the farm were larger, had stronger shells, had more mass, and were generally healthier than mussels outside the farm. Observations like this are encouraging and support the need for further study of kelp’s role in helping maintain a balanced marine ecosystem.

Kelp and the Community

With a population of 21,500, Biddeford, Maine, is the home of Atlantic Sea Farms, the company that supplies Thorne with the kelp powder used in Daily Greens Plus. Atlantic Sea Farms wants to change the way we look at kelp. Under the direction of CEO Briana Warner, Atlantic Sea Farms has developed a business model that allows them to provide this nutrient-dense superfood on a commercial scale that benefits the environment and promotes year-round income for the local fishing communities.

According to the Natural Resources Council of Maine, the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99 percent of the oceans worldwide. This has set in motion a chain of events that has negatively disrupted the entire marine ecosystem and dealt a direct financial blow to the independent fishermen of Maine. Stock levels of commercial species, such as cod, haddock, clams, shrimp, and lobster – once a reliable source of revenue – are now uncertain. And although the warming initially allowed lobster populations to grow in parts of Maine, Warner says that as water temperatures continue to rise, “At some point in the future, lobster larvae won’t survive at the same rate they currently are.” Maine fishermen, she says, "have boats, run their own businesses, and have a conservation ethic, too, but they have always had multiple fisheries. Now, there's just this one." A study by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute suggests that by the year 2050, the warming of these waters could make lobster numbers drop by as much as 62 percent.

In 2009, the founders of Atlantic Sea Farms started the first commercially viable kelp farm in the United States. In 2014, they connected with Warner, who was working on a way to help local fishermen diversify their incomes due to stresses brought on by climate change; the solution was kelp farming. “We know this can be done very, very well by fishermen who use the same equipment they use for lobsters,” she says. “It’s done in the lobster off-season, and it uses much of the same skill set and same equipment as lobster fishing.”

In 2018, Warner became CEO of Atlantic Sea Farms. Although Atlantic Sea Farms no longer owns a kelp farm, they enable fishermen to become independent kelp farmers who then supply the company with the kelp they grow. They walk prospective kelp farmers through the entire process, from getting the appropriate leases from the state, to designing their farms, to providing pre-incubated seed to start their farm. "They pay for their ropes in the water and their time, but we provide free seeds and buy everything they produce," Warner says. A kelp farm does not need the typical resources associated with conventional farming, such as fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fresh-water irrigation, or arable land. It ends up being a fairly low risk investment for the farmer.

Harvesting kelp provides local fishermen income during the off-season. "Our first season, one of our fishermen was landing his kelp. We cut a check for it right there on the dock,” Warner says. “And there were people hanging out, wondering what the hell was going on. So, he walked the check down to the end of the dock, held it up, and said, 'Look here, guys, this is the future.'" Currently, there are 27 farmers in the Atlantic Sea Farms network, located up and down the Maine coast, and the number is growing. In 2018, the annual kelp harvest was 30,000 pounds; the spring 2022 harvest yielded nearly one million pounds.

Warner and her team have developed a truly viable model for U.S. seaweed aquaculture, partnering with local fishermen to grow kelp as a strategy to mitigate climate change. This collaboration now accounts for most of the line-grown kelp produced in the United States and demonstrates that a model that places a priority on farmers, community, and the earth does work and can direct us to a whole new way of producing food.

What sets Atlantic Sea Farms kelp apart from other kelp sources? The kelp from Atlantic Sea Farms network is grown in the heavily regulated and clean waters of Maine, avoiding the notoriously high heavy metals from seaweeds coming from southeast Asia that comprise nearly 99 percent of the seaweed currently consumed in the United States. Atlantic Sea Farms kelp has a short growing season, from November to May, and is harvested at peak quality. By comparison, wild harvest kelp has been in the water for an undetermined amount of time and grows attached to rocks and other objects in the ocean, which adds another layer of mystery to the harvest. Atlantic Sea Farms kelp is grown and harvested under controlled open aquaculture conditions, allowing for a better, more consistent product and reliable supply chain. The two kinds grown, Saccharina latissima, or sugar kelp, and S. latissimi f. angustissima, or skinny kelp, are native to the waters where they are farmed, which means there is no chance of introducing an invasive species to the Gulf of Maine, and they grow incredibly efficiently because they evolved to grow there.

Thorne is proud to partner with ingredient suppliers like Atlantic Sea Farms, who make the environment and community sustainability an integral part of their philosophy and practice.

Thorne’s Daily Greens Plus contains 500 mg of Atlantic Sea Farms kelp powder per serving, in addition to 27 other ingredients that support foundational nutrition, vitality, wellness, and healthy aging.*

You can find more information about Atlantic Sea Farms here.