Microalgae is nature’s ‘green gold’: our pioneering project to feed the world more sustainably

21.08.2023 - 11:40 / theunconventionalgardener.com / guest

Header image: Chlorella, a species of microalgae grown for the ALG-AD project in Devon. Shutterstock

Carole Anne Llewellyn, Swansea University

As a young child in the mid-1960s, my days were spent living an idyllic rural life on a dairy farm in the village of Lewdown in the heart of Devon. I recall many happy days exploring the glorious countryside, living a life in balance with nature and the environment – or at least, that’s how it felt.

But I also remember the ever-present slurry pit full of manure down at the end of our cowshed. It wasn’t fenced off, and my mum would remind me on regular occasions that to stray too close could mean death by drowning in what was, in essence, an enormous vat of smelly cow pats. As a five-year-old, I stayed well clear.

What we didn’t know then was that this pit of farm manure posed not only a hazard to me, but to our environment. Manure, which is often returned to the land as a nutrient fertiliser without consideration of its wider impacts, releases greenhouse gases including methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, and other harmful nitrogenous gases such as ammonia. It can also lead to nitrogen-rich run-off into water courses, polluting rivers, lakes and coastlines – with knock-on effects on fish mortality and tourism.

In short, what I thought was an idyllic childhood, living on a farm in balance with nature, wasn’t quite that. Subsequently, as a bioscientist, I’ve spent much of my life researching microorganisms that can help maintain a healthy planet. Nearly 60 years later, I find myself leading a pioneering Europe-wide project dedicated to transforming potentially harmful waste into something positive. In the process, we can help to build a “circular economy” that regenerates nature