Speaker

About the speaker: 

Jessica Schiller is dedicated to the study and sustainable application of seaweed, with over ten years of experience in research and industry. She holds a PhD in the ecophysiology of invasive kelp in Europe and its cultivation in China. At Hortimare, she leads the seeding technology and field trials team, coordinating research operations that link laboratory work and farm trials for the past six years. Having been a contact point to seaweed farmers and researchers alike, Jessica uses her background to connect a scientific approach with commercial strategy.

Company info:

Hortimare is a Dutch-based company specializing in the early stages of the seaweed value chain, from conceptualization to scaling. They provide high-quality starting material, production protocol development, breeding programs, system design and optimization, and ecosystem services. They work with seaweed initiatives worldwide, enabling our clients and collaborators to build successful and sustainable operations. Hortimares has deep expertise in kelp and select green and red seaweed species. With full control over their production systems at scale and Europe’s largest and most diverse kelp gene bank, their mission is to foster a thriving, transparent, and sustainable seaweed industry, in which knowledge, skills, and rewards are shared for collective success.

Presentation: 

In the European seaweed propagation and cultivation context, the transition from research to production scale brings many unforeseen challenges. What do “quality” and “performance” mean in seaweed starting material and how do they translate to farm outcomes? When the need for quick – and possibly premature – scaling conflicts with the requirement of robust performance in nurseries and farms, failures tend to be as epic as the goals we tried to reach. By understanding that in failure lies the opportunity for learning and improvement, Hortimare dedicated itself to prioritising professionalisation and rigorous, research-backed internal quality controls. We focused on perfecting the foundational building blocks that allowed us to reach the scale where we could supply the entire European seaweed farming industry with starting material that is considered the “highest quality.” During this process, critics turned to advocates and collaborators with whom we can explore a new take on “scale” and what is needed to cultivate viably and translate learnings from kelps to other aspects of our work.