10150563ProBio Ocean: Scaling-up manufacture of kelp biostimulants via fermentation and ensilingClosedGrant for R&DInnovate UKThe kelp farming industry faces many scale-up challenges due to the high costs of production, limited processing capacity, and stiff competition with cheaper dry seaweed. Methods of rapidly preserving and bio-processing fresh kelp into innovative products must be found to ease processing bottlenecks and open market opportunities. The harvest season for farmed kelp only last several months, during which tons of kelp must be quickly stabilized to prevent spoilage. Seaweed is traditionally dried to give it a shelf-life of several years. However, there is a massive shortfall of drying capacity in the UK, and kelp is often left unharvested if farmers cannot access drying facilities. Drying kelp is also slow, prohibitively expensive and energy intensive, making it very difficult to scale effectively. Fermentation and ensiling of biomass have been used to preserve food and crops for centuries, often improving or enhancing their quality. Yet these methods of stabilizing and bio-processing biomass have been underutilized for seaweed, and present tremendous opportunities to solve our supply-chain issues and to manufacture new products. KelpCrofters have proven (at pilot scale) that fresh kelp can be stabilised rapidly by adding acid or by lacto-fermentation. **As part of this project, we aim to scale-up our methods of ensiling/fermenting kelp, building on earlier successful trials.** The seaweed biostimulants market also offers exciting opportunities to manufacture liquid extracts from fermented and ensiled kelp (without the need for drying). The demand for seaweed biostimulants is increasing due to a shift towards sustainable farming that supports soil health and builds resilience to climate change, and the significant rise in fertilizer prices. Building crop resilience to environmental stress has also become more important for UK farmers, and this can be achieved by applying a seaweed biostimulant that builds root structure and improves nutrient use efficiency of crops, so they are better able to tolerate conditions such as dry spells, floods, extreme temperatures or reduced fertilizer inputs. **We will tap into this market by developing cold-pressed liquid extracts from the ensiled and fermented biomass that will be assessed for biostimulant properties on spring barley. Crop trial results will prove efficacy, build customer confidence and facilitate commercialization.** Key outputs from this project include a scaled-up process to rapidly stabilize fresh kelp via fermentation and ensiling, and subsequent manufacture of biostimulants from that kelp. These outputs will unlock supply chain bottlenecks and open valuable market opportunities, enabling sustainable growth of aquaculture and agriculture sectors.