The current status of macroalgae in animal feed; Quo Vadis?
The current status of macroalgae in animal feed; Quo Vadis?
Dr. Stefan Kraan, Chief Scientific Officer, Oceana Organic Products Ltd, Ireland
Speaker
Speaker
Seagriculture EU
17 - 19 June 2025
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
About the speaker:
Stefan obtained his PhD on phylogenetics and aquaculture of edible seaweeds at the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2001. In parallel took the role as manager of the Irish Seaweed Industry Organisation and established the Irish Seaweed Centre in 2001, a dedicated R&D centre for seaweed-based research and development at the University Of Galway Ireland. After 10 years of running the centre, he resigned to set up Ocean Harvest Technology Ltd to pursue and develop some commercial ideas using seaweeds for a variety of purposes amongst them functional food ingredients for fish farming and novel algae cultivation systems for biofuel production. After 8 years he resigned and co-founded The Seaweed Company in 2018. A company with complete horizontal integration developing the whole seaweed value chain from cultivation to biostimulant feed, food, and biomaterials with as highlight SeaMeat™, a processed meat replacement ingredient. Dr Kraan stepped out of the Seaweed Company in December 2024. Stefan was President of the International Seaweed Association (2016-2019) and is currently President for the International Society for Applied Phycology (2024-2027). He was business coach of 14 Indonesian seaweed companies under the Dutch Ministry of Economics and Climate Policy’s development program (CBI/RVO) to help diversify and increase export to Europe from 2019-2025. Currently he is developing seaweed cultivation in India, producing agarose , biostimulant and works on biopaper and bioplastics. Stefan in his position for Blaaker AS, Norway is also involved in developing and applying biodegradable rope for aquaculture and biodegradable materials for horticulture. His main fields of expertise are aquaculture of seaweeds, sustainable development of algal resources, industrial applications of seaweeds and usage of seaweeds in animal feed, aquaculture, biotechnology and biomedicine.
Company info:
Oceana Organic Products Ltd is a Seaweed Consultancy and advise company with ownership in other seaweed compies in the cultivation space and value added product development of seaweed applications.
Presentation:
In this presentation the team of the company examine the current status of use of seaweed in animal feed, their mode of action, economics , trial results and will look at the future of seaweed use in animal feed.
Interview
1. What’s the most promising role seaweed can play in improving animal feed today?
Improving gut health, leading to better nutrient uptake and hence lower FCR.
2. What are the main challenges in getting more farmers and feed producers to use seaweed?
Farmers are by default very conservative (at least in Europe) feed strategies are optimised to the last cent, and using certain additives that are chemically based. Hence, seaweed formulations could play an important role to replace synthetic ingredients with natural sustainable fossil fuel less intensive replacements, ergo seaweed. The biggest challenge is of course price, and trying to be competitive. Once farmers start looking at regenerative farming that is often the turning point.
3. Where do you see the biggest opportunities for innovation in seaweed-based feed products?
Farmed shrimp and fish, poultry, and swine.