The First Seaweed Farm in Texas

Why will you succeed with this business?

Hell, I’m not sure yet. But I can’t sit on the side and not doing anything about climate changes that are coming our way. I am very interested in learning and implementing a business plan that pushes back against climate disaster.

The resources we aim to use are vast, fallow areas not in use (tidal flats). Growing algae can be cheap and productive with little attention and capital. There are many fossil fuel products that can be simulated with algae including fertilizer and plastics.

What do you think the future holds for your business and your industry?

Algae are a growth industry that has had a decade of intensive R&D in technology and research capacity as well as centuries of use by humans for many uses. As the climate changes this century and society looks for new ways to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and promote climate resiliency interest and capital will flow to algae-based endeavors.

Who are the owners and how is their background relevant to this business?

The owner of Buffalo Seaweed is Sean Carroll, a serial entrepreneur and founder of the restaurant Melange Creperie. We are open to sharing ownership responsibilities and equity as we grow, both with stakeholders in manufacturing that employ algae as raw materials as well as with committed employees interested in becoming shareholders.

What is your product (benefits and features)?

Buffalo Seaweed is the first algae farm in Galveston Bay, promoting environmentalism and providing seaweed based products to the Houston market. Seaweed farms can slow storm surges, clean water locally, provide ecological habitats, and increase oxygen in the area. Seaweed comes in many varieties that have salable aspects as fertilizer, animal feed, medical products, biofuel, bioplastics, and for human consumption.

Who is your target customer?

Our target consumer is three-fold; firstly institutional customers on Blue Carbon Credit exchanges and government or NGO grant opportunities, secondly raw materials markets for seaweed varieties able to be grown in the target area, and thirdly direct consumers for processed algae products both online and in-person in order to raise awareness.

Why will they choose your product?

Our target customer is in the Houston area and will choose our product to bring real value in our changing world to the Houston area. As just one aspect of fighting climate change, seaweed farming is a small but growing and vital aspect of climate resiliency. We will provide easy to understand and verifiable carbon offset credits, wet or dry raw bulk algae unavailable from Texas sources, and processed products for small-scale home use with style and emphasizing consumer ability to make conscientious choices that can positively affect the world.

What business will you be in? What will you do?

Buffalo Seaweed aims to be the first algae farm on the Texas Coast, in Galveston Bay. Using native species and methods honed over the past decade as seaweed farming has grown across the world Buffalo Seaweed will produce Blue Carbon Credits, rewild Galveston Bay, harvest brown and red algae, and work to develop a local supply chain for organic fertilizer and bioplastics production.

        To whom will you market your products?

Our target consumer is three-fold; firstly institutional customers on Blue Carbon Credit exchanges and government or NGO grant opportunities, secondly raw materials markets for seaweed varieties able to be grown in the target area, and thirdly direct consumers for processed algae products both online and in-person in order to raise awareness.

        What is important to you in business?

Our first priority is the increase the resiliency of the Houston area to climate change. We strive to find capitalist solutions to support this aim including green initiatives, government grants, sales of algae raw materials and building a local market for Blue Carbon Credits.

What is your competitive advantage (your most important company strengths and core competencies)?

Our competitive advantage is being first to market! In addition we are focused on research based solutions, reaching out to local partners, and finding where our goals dovetail with others’ goals.

What background experience, skills, and strengths do you personally bring to this new venture?

We bring an entrepreneurial spirit to this project through experience in other spaces including Reuse, Retail, Institutional, Educational, and Nature-based businesses. Our research and creativity is a strength that can more than make up for a lack of experience with the specifics of algae farming, since there is no one else working in this space in the local area.

        What are your plans for this business? Growth? If so, at what rate and how will you achieve it?

Buffalo Seaweed wants to start with a seven hectare algae farm off of Texas City in Galveston Bay. The first year will be experimenting with methods to grow product, researching growth expectations and developing markets for our product. Our second year will be about optimizing our farming; at three tons per hectare our plot can produce up to twenty-one tons per season, each ton can fill 13.6 fifty-five gallon drums of organic fertilizer. At a wholesale price of $1,146 per drum, it is possible to bring in $327,285 per year on our initial plot. It will take several years to fill our plot but we can grow incrementally.

Following year two we will look at growing our plot, diversifying our sales options, making longer term commitments for Blue Carbon Credits and bioplastic feedstocks, and producing studies to demonstrate our farm’s ability to slow storm surges, clean water, and create habitats for local fish and wildlife. By our fourth year we will look to franchise our process and products to Gulf Coast municipalities and entrepreneurs to spread our goals and opportunities to communities from Florida to Mexico.