Listen to our founder talk to Honey and Fox about the sustainability reasons to include seaweed in your life. Diving deep, literally and figuratively, into the ocean's potential to regenerate food systems and tackle food waste. Host Joanne Freeman speaks with Pia Winberg, the visionary behind Venus Shell Systems and PhycoHealth, transforming nutrient waste into valuable food and agricultural products using seaweed. Pia takes us on a journey that started with planetary systems theory and ended up in large-scale seaweed cultivation.
Venus Shell Systems captures nitrogen and other nutrients from food industry emissions like those from wheat processing and uses seaweed to convert them into high-protein, mineral-rich ingredients. These seaweed products not only reduce coastal pollution but also enhance health and sustainability in our diets.
The conversation explores how seaweed farming in controlled coastal pools can yield zero-waste, protein-rich biomass while reoxygenating water and protecting marine ecosystems.
Pia explains the science behind it, including how one kilo of seaweed can absorb 50g of nitrogen and 1.5kg of carbon dioxide while producing just as much oxygen.
They also discuss the challenges of communicating complex environmental benefits in a soundbite-driven world and why integrating regeneration into mainstream food systems like pasta with 10% seaweed could free up a million hectares of land in Australia alone.