Never underestimate what might happen when two multi-tasking moms go for a walk.

Towards the end of Covid, Krista Rosen and Inga Potter – an attorney and marine biologist – embarked on a stroll near the pre-school in southern Maine which their children attended. Potter, who was teaching environmental science at York County Community College at the time, couldn’t help but talk about climate change.  

As Rosen listened to how seaweed captures carbon and makes the ocean less acidic, she thought, “It’s like a miracle crop that can improve the marine environment and then help to replace things we use every day that are not so environmentally friendly.”  

Before the hour had elapsed, Rosen said to Potter, “I’ll be your partner!” The two started working on farming permits that week.

“It was very much a life-changing day,” Rosen says now. 

Small farm, big ideas

Their company, Cold Current Kelp, today grows Saccharina latissima in Portsmouth Harbor and the Piscataqua River, where the waters of New Hampshire and Maine meet and mingle. They hold two Limited Purpose Aquaculture (LPA) licenses, with a footprint of 800 square feet.  

The Maine Department of Marine Resources began issuing this type of license, at the suggestion of shellfish growers, to streamline permitting.  Because of that, it has been successful at attracting research projects and entrepreneurs to study new techniques and species before scaling up.

And that’s exactly what Rosen and Potter are doing in their venture, which currently offers a line of facial oils branded KelpGlow. The products are “traceable down to the latitude and longitude coordinates off the coast of Maine,” Rosen says.

But their vision is much larger than traceability. Most of the kelp currently farmed in the U.S. is used for food, such as the kelp cubes and sea-veggie burgers developed by Maine neighbor Atlantic Sea Farms.  Potter and Rosen are focused on high-value uses of kelp “off the plate.” Their initiatives come at a time when entrepreneurs globally are bringing to market seaweed-based products like compostable food containers, laundry pods, polybags for apparel, medical scrub wear, rope and fishing lines.

Why skincare

Not only is there a market for cosmetic products created with natural, sustainable ingredients but “the use of seaweed-derived ingredients has increased in recent years as a result of the many scientific studies that have proven the potential skincare properties of seaweed bioactives,” writes Lucía López-Hortas, a chemical engineer in Spain.  

The big opportunity for “blue beauty” exists because of the polysaccharides present in brown kelp.  Studies—predominantly in Europe—have found that these complex sugar molecules protect skin cells from UV damage, promote the production of collagen, suppress agents related to inflammation, and inhibit bacteria associated with acne and atopic dermatitis—”a lot of really positive effects on skin health,” says Potter, who holds a Ph.D. in zoology and Masters in biology.

Scientists are not known for their hyperbole, but one Danish researcher described these effects as “remarkable.” A British scientist wrote that the macroalgae derivatives are “renowned for their myriad biological benefits.”

But, before consumers rush out to buy and apply seaweed lotions, they should note that there is a rub. Essential to the bioactivity of these compounds is how they are extracted from the kelp.

And that’s also where the two Maine moms may have a strategic advantage for their business.  A major asset on their team is Bob Leipold, a PhD in chemical engineering whose tenure with companies including DuPont, Merck, and Pfizer gave him deep expertise in biotechnology and pharmaceutical modelling. He also is Rosen’s uncle.

End-to-end management

Potter and Rosen seeded their first lines at the end of 2022. They farm, harvest, stabilize, extract, formulate products, package and ship themselves.

Both women have a strong commitment to being on the water. “We’ve always been very hands-on,” says Potter.  They harvest the kelp in small batches and dry it in a greenhouse— a stabilization method they prefer because “it doesn’t require any energy input, and it’s the gentlest way to preserve those bioactive compounds that are in the kelp,” Potter says.

“We also manufacture the product ourselves, literally,” says Rosen. “We have a space in Kittery [Maine] where we’re making our extract and blending it with the oils.  We are filling the bottles and putting them in boxes and shipping them ourselves.”  

She speaks with a sense of satisfaction as someone once confined to the towers of Manhattan, doing legal research, writing briefs, and drafting complaints (with success, by the way).  

Research and innovation

Last summer, the company won a highly competitive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant of US$175,000 offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). One focus has been how to optimally extract the polysaccharides.  

“Unlike conventional methods, the proposed extraction will not use toxic solvents and is expected to result in higher extraction yields in less time,” Leipold wrote in the project summary developed for the SBIR grant. The method that the Cold Current Kelp perfects will become its own intellectual property, a benefit of the SBIR grant.

Another area of research inquiry is the time of harvest.  Rosen points to “literature saying that the longer you leave kelp in the water, the more polysaccharides it develops.” So, Cold Current Kelp has experimented harvesting in summer versus spring, performing extractions on each batch separately. There are “some really encouraging and exciting results,” Rosen says. “But it is still early stage.”

In addition to the SBIR grant, Cold Current Kelp also received a USDA Rural Development Value-Added Producer Grant for US$24,700 in December to help it develop new products and reach wider markets.   

And last year, NOAA Fisheries awarded a Saltonstall-Kennedy grant of US$300,000 to Cold Current Kelp and the University of New Hampshire (UNH) to work together on the diversification of seaweed species on a kelp farm. In February, Potter and Rosen seeded dulse, testing different water depths as well as substrates. 

In addition to rope, which is used for kelp, they are examining bendable pipe, the type that might be used in plumbing, as an alternative that would alleviate whale entanglement risks.

 “Dulse hasn’t been widely farmed, so those protocols aren’t really in place.”  Success could mean an additional source of revenue for kelp farmers.

U.S. government grant funding has clearly made a difference in what these two entrepreneurs can do in research and development, both for their own business and the seaweed sector—where Asia and Europe now have the competitive edge.

Asked whether they fear future constraints due to the Trump administration budget cutting, Potter replies, “As far as grants, I’m just an optimist. I feel this is a really positive thing for our country and our planet.  Maybe it won’t be the focus of this administration, but I feel there’s so much possibility for small business growth and innovation.”

“In the life cycle of kelp farming, this would be an unfortunate time to lose grant funding because it is such a nascent industry,” Rosen adds.  “This is when we need it most. We need to improve the farming technology, the processing technology, the secondary processing technology, the value-added process.” 

Collaboration to benefit aquaculture’s future

“Outreach to students and the community is something that we feel strongly about. I think raising awareness not only about seaweed’s environmental benefits but the potential uses of kelp is an important part of what we’re doing,” says Potter.  

They have met with local high school students interested in aquaculture. For a semester, Rosen worked closely with Brown University students in an environmental studies course. They make time to answer emails, have coffee with students, and speak at career planning events.

They also now have important experience to share with those who are interested in aquaculture careers involving seaweed. “Something we were told when we started in this industry – and that I think still holds true – is you can’t just get a boat and start growing kelp and expect to be a full-time kelp farmer.  You really need a place to sell it. So, unless you’re just doing it as a hobby and to learn, you really need a plan with what to do with it when it comes out of the water if you’re going to make money.”

The opportunity ahead

Looking back just a few years, Krista says, “I would go to conferences about kelp farming which pretty much only talked about food-related processing and sales avenues. I assumed that we were late to the game as far as other uses.  But that’s not necessarily true. We’re really just starting this journey of learning the science behind kelp.”

She hints that one outcome of their SBIR-funded research may be new products that are both quantifiably effective and safe for skin and hair. 

”Our goal is never to have a huge farm,” Potter adds. “Our goal is to know intimately a farming process. Hopefully, someday, we can create enough high-value uses that we’re encouraging other people to be farming as well.”

“This is really just the beginning,” she says.