Algae-based animal feed
Print date: 14 April 2024 10:22
Description of the innovative solution
Large scale-implementation of algae-based animal feed has the potential to be a source of many carbon sinks, reducing our overall carbon footprint, and improve global food security despite the world’s growing population. By implementing algae-based animal feed on a large scale, the amount of cropland currently used to provide livestock with feed will be dramatically reduced. As the global population increases, demand for food, and therefore cropland will increase. Algae-based animal feed has the potential to mitigate climate change by reducing the cropland use for livestock feed production and replacing it with a sustainable alternative. When less cropland is used to feed livestock it can instead be put toward feeding the growing global population. If implemented widely enough, algae-based animal feed could lead to a large reduction in cropland use which in turn could increase the amount of land that can act as a carbon sink, further mitigating climate change. Algae-based animal feed itself is incredibly sustainable to produce. The requirements for algae growth consist of essentially just sunlight and some essential nutrients. On top of this, the production of the algae itself could potentially double as a carbon sink, increasing the positive effects of algae-based animal feed. Algae-based animal feed offers a hopeful solution to curbing greenhouse gas emissions and the negative environmental effects of farming livestock as well as increasing global food security.
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A review of the current state of algae-based feeds in agriculture and aquaculture.
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