Blue Biomass. New ways towardsa (more) sustainable agricultural system

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1 Blue Biomass New ways towardsa (more) sustainable agricultural system Danish Macro Algae conference and workshop, Grenaa 19th September 2012, Steffen Brandstrup Hansen

2 Whoam I? Master of Science in Geography and Geoinformatics. Bachelor of Science in Public Administration and Social Science. Consultant: Ocean Centre Denmark (Overall market opportunities, challenges and a way forward). Business case developer: DBH Technology (commercial seaweed development consortium).

3 The Danish perception of green growth Former Danish Prime Minister: The Government wants green growth where nature conservation and progress go hand in hand. Where we unite environment and nature preservation strategies with a modern and competitive society Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Opening of Thy National Park

4 Reality High level of conflict between farmers and policy objectives on Water Framework Directive targets. - 9,000 (19,000) tons N per year reduction targets.

5 New opportunities? Sugar kelp as a cost effective biofiltercapable of mitigating eutrophication and creating green growth synergies?

6 A good yield depends on selection of right cultivation areas Temperature Light Depth Current Salinity Available nutrients Etc.

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8 Indicative yield data Average wheat yield per hectare in DK = 8 tons per year. A two year sugar kelp production cycle produces an average of 5.26 tons of dry weight per year or 66 % of the wheat yield. Placing of rope seedlines Growing periods in months Harvest time Yield pr m rope in kg wet weight Yield pr long line in ton wet weight Yield pr hectare in tons wet (W) and dry (D) weight Sep -Nov August (29.24) W / (5.26) D Indicative data from Blue Foods production (data has not been fully validated)

9 Conversion of political nitrogen reduction targets to biomass Nitrogen reduction target Max productio n in wet weight Production in dry weight Phosporus lossfrom agriculture Phosporus fixationin biomass Difference: phosporus loss/uptake Required area(ha) 19,000 4,269, ,539 1,400 3,846-2, ,021 9,000 2,022, ,045 1,400 1, ,168 1, ,719 40,449 1, ,198 7,685 Dry matter nitrogen content: 2.47 % (+/-0.13) -Gevaertet al (2001). Dry matter phosphorus content: 0.5 % -Murata et al (2001). August harvest: 130 kilo N per hectare per year.

10 Overall green growthperspectives 1) Contribution towards fulfilmentof DK Water Framework Directive targets. 2) Potential contribution towards achieving the EU Renewable Energy Directive goal of 10 % renewables. 3) Residue from a biorefinery process consist of minerals, non fermented sugars and proteins and should be sold as ecological feed input to the agricultural and aquaculturalsectors.

11 Needfor political action Government framework conditions are needed to create incentives boosting investment in blue biomass production and creating a security of supply. First possible solution includes: Integration of marine based production of blue biomass under existing land based N reduction subsidy schemes. Government subsidy of DKK per kilo N leads to a total subsidy of app. 3,000 DKK per hectare.

12 Needfor political action Second possible solution: Legislation promoting the polluter pays principle within a new nitrogen quota scheme thereby internalisingcosts within the agricultural (and aquacultural) sector. Both solutions: Do not directly affect land based biomass production and promote substantial green growth synergies while creating value out of a valuable nutrient resource, today viewed as a source of pollution.

13 A need for a political discussion about Political ambition: new framework conditions Green growth should go hand in hand with a reduced level of conflict between farmers and government over Water Framework Directive targets. Debate: Mutual dependencies between healthy land and sea based production systems increases the overall value of both production systems and thereby also industry incentives to preserve them