Working Together To Grow The Industry

Lazy Point Farms Partners with Local Experts to Grow Kelp Industry for New York State

LONG ISLAND, NY – Lazy Point Farms has partnered with individuals and institutions across Long Island to grow and harvest the seaweed,  sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima), in water bodies on the north and south shores of Long Island to kick start a self-sustaining and local kelp industry. Through a focus on food safety, improved cultivation practices, local nursery development, and processing, sugar kelp will soon be available free of charge to organizations and businesses who wish to experiment with this new local crop.

As a nonprofit organization, Lazy Point Farms is grounded  in the idea that partnerships with environmental nonprofits, educational institutions, and the private sector to bootstrap the industry is critical to the long-term success of New York’s growing industry.

“The expertise is already here,” said Lazy Point Farms Executive Director Wendy Moore. “There is a growing kelp community that will build  this emerging sector. We created Lazy Point Farms to serve as the connective link among the public and private sectors, the research and educational institutions, and the business and environmental organizations that want to see it grow. We create opportunities so that everyone involved can move forward.”

This past season, Lazy Point Farms partnered with fifteen growers that included oyster farmers, two environmental organizations, a garden club, four nurseries, three universities, two food centers, NY Sea Grant, and Cornell Cooperative Extension.          

Kelp has enormous potential to improve the health of local marine waters . "We are excited to partner with Lazy Point Farms and their growers to explore the potential of kelp as a new food product for our region," said Kate Fullam, Executive Director of East End Food Institute. "Kelp is more than just fertilizer or food. It has the potential to make a significant positive impact on our economy and environmental health as well."

Lazy Point Farms and its partners see seaweed aquaculture as a sustainable way to nourish the community and develop a local industry along the way. One example is the progress that’s been made with New York Sea Grant. “Since the initiation of New York Sea Grant’s Seaweed Processing and Marketing Task Force in 2021, New York Sea Grant has been actively working with local, regional, and national partners like Lazy Point Farms to provide resources and technical assistance for the emerging seaweed industry on Long Island,” said Michael Ciaramella, Seafood Specialist at New York Sea Grant.

Thanks to a team of food safety experts and growers, Lazy Point Farms will be able to distribute this year's harvest in several forms to help local businesses investigate its potential for both food and non-food uses. “We had spent many years spinning our wheels in the mud while trying to ignite the small business community needed to drive the kelp farming movement forward in New York, and progress had been steady - but slow - for a long time,” said Sean Barrett, cofounder of The Montauk Seaweed Supply Company. “Since partnering with the Moore Foundation last year our project, and the entire fledgling industry here, have taken off as if we were suddenly strapped to a rocketship.” Sugar kelp is widely used as a food and soil amendment and has also shown promise as a potential substitute for synthetic fibers and plastic packaging.