About the project
This project, co-financed by Jordbruksverket, commenced in September 2023 and will continue until the end of 2025. It aims to test an innovative business model in real conditions for deploying small-scale sea-based seaweed farms. KOASTAL provides customers, such as fishers, with a turnkey farm package and a buy-back guarantee for their crops, fostering the growth of local small-scale seaweed farming.
About Jordbruksverket
The Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket) plays a vital role in supporting rural development and sustainable agricultural practices in Sweden. It provides information and regulations related to animals, plants, food, and beverages, focusing on trade and health standards. The agency also oversees the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Maritime, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Programme, offering support for rural development measures and agri-environmental payments. Jordbruksverket is a key co-financier of projects that promote innovative agricultural solutions, such as the development and customer piloting of sustainable seaweed cultivation models.
About KOASTAL
KOASTAL is developing the most resource-efficient production system of seaweed biomass using a franchise model building on the current resources of the fishing industry. We help fishers set up, operate and scale their farms, and aggregate and certify their production to result in the best product-market fit for large-scale buyers.
Project Conclusion
(i) Lowered barriers to farm establishment
Permitting and site selection matured from ad-hoc execution into a repeatable, template-driven capability. The ten site selection criteria were tested in practice and re-prioritised based on real permitting and stakeholder experience, improving the odds of both cultivation suitability and social/regulatory acceptance.
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Rig design also reached a practical maturity. The spreader-bar system evolved into a resilient, low-capex “workhorse” that small boats can deploy, tune, and service, avoiding heavy-lift cost traps.
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(ii) Defined the path to sustainable annual operations
The project also mapped the true bottlenecks in yearly farm operations, and moved multiple of them forward with tangible systems:
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Harvest & product flow: Harvesting improved through in-water cooled handling concepts, and a commodity-ready product format was validated with buyers.
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Packaging & land-based integration: Packaging time remains a key constraint, pointing toward semi-automated boxing integrated into existing fishing-industry infrastructure to protect cold chain quality while reducing labour peaks.
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Data & traceability: We intentionally pivoted from an over-engineered “nice-to-have” digital setup to a lean, farmer-proof data stack: a few smart loggers plus “just enough” traceability to satisfy buyers and certification, then iterate demand-driven from there.
(iii) The Network model going forward
A central learning from the project is that a durable farming Network requires committed, self-financed operators supported by a KOASTAL-led innovation hub. Growth will be organic, based on clear incentives and real operator value.
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To reach the original ambition of a self-sustaining farming Network at scale, KOASTAL’s next development phase will focus on:
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continued operations R&D and best-practice refinement (a “see, learn, copy” hub model),
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commodity and market development that stabilises offtake and pricing, and
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designing the operative and legal structure of the Network so it is demand-driven, efficient, and resilient, clarifying roles, shared assets, QA/traceability, offtake frameworks, and membership terms.
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​Over the project duration, we achieved three major outcomes:
Final reflection
This project has delivered more than individual deliverables: it has established practical building blocks, templates, systems, protocols, and a clearer Network logic, that reduce entry barriers and make small-scale seaweed cultivation more operationally realistic. The remaining work is not to reinvent the concept, but to keep engineering the processes and structures that turn “possible” into “profitable and repeatable” for coastal operators.