A Scottish start-up is hoping to encourage growers and consumers to embrace crops which can be grown in salty conditions, such as samphire and sea aster.
Ayrshire-based Seawater Solutions is working with potato and carrot grower Jay Crawford to grow the crops on an acre of land previously unused due to its exposure to the sea and salt spray. Pipelines from the sea bring sea water to the field and replicate the tidal irrigation patterns.
“These plants can create eco-systems and promote wildlife, but they can also feed us in a sustainable way and return health to the soil,” says Seawater Solutions founder Yanik Nyberg. “We’ve taken a piece of land here that was maybe only going to yield a couple of hundred pounds per year into something that could maybe yield a couple of thousand pounds per year.”
Photo caption: Seawater Solutions is growing crops like samphire
Photo source: Seawater Solutions