NAWI and sustainability of microalgae-based agriculture

Today, agriculture, using an estimated 38 % of emerged land mass, is responsible for around 25 % of greenhouse gas emissions: methane from livestock, nitrous oxide from fertilization, and many more toxic effects on our planet like deforestation and fertilizer runoff. With an ever-increasing population set to reach over 9.7 billion people by 2050 [1], food demand is increasing proportionally: it’s important we start tackling the issue of sustainable agriculture now, before it’s too late.

The aquatic ecosystem could give our food chain a helping hand: by adapting food production systems to previously unexploited agricultural environments, we could help relieve the pressure on classical agriculture and reduce soil depletion to ecologically manageable levels. Furthermore, photoautotrophic microalgae help fixate carbon dioxide and are responsible for almost half of today’s atmospheric oxygen [2, 5].

Because microalgae have such energy-dense and rich nutritional values all across the board [3], you also decrease land-usage for the same amount of nutritional value as classical crops like wheat or rice, while also producing much less byproduct. The construction of the necessary infrastructure also doesn’t interfere with existing terrestrial food crops, for either ressources or space, as large scale open or closed systems can be installed almost anywhere[4].

While all microalgae are described by the World Health Organization as “Superfoods”, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii actually has better nutritional value than Spirulina or Chlorella: better amino acid, lipid and micronutrient profile, almost no heavy metal accumulation, wide range of primary and secondary metabolites produced [3].

‍Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is also the most researched unicellular green microalgae, with a huge variety of tools available for its study and manipulation. over other microalgae allow it to be easily engineered and tested, allowing for lower costs and faster times in research and development.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

We are aware though that most of these goals are difficult to attain without heavy funding, or without wide policy change regarding GMO legislation and market authorizations [6]. That is why our project, the first version of NAWI, has such a reduced scope. These are the goals we hope to one day achieve (don’t tell our investors):

NAWI, growing beyond its candy-phase, could help solve world hunger by distributing a toolkit for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii engineering, allowing the cultivation of a energy-dense and nutritionally rich food source anywhere around the globe, with the added ability of modifying metabolic circuits to target localized malnutrition. (Goal 2)

Through genetic engineering, NAWI could produce different nutritional profiles depending on the consumer’s needs, allowing one to ensure good health and well being through proper nutrition. (Goal 3)

A huge problem today, in France at least, is the work conditions for farmers. By installing a sustainable and non-predatory business model, we hope to collaborate with farmers in producing NAWI, as to ensure decent work, better living conditions, and overall economic growth. By containing the cultivation of NAWI in sophisticated farms, we hope to greatly reduce our impact on the environment. Of course, profits don’t always fit in with sustainability, but given the nature of the product, it's in both the farmer and the company’s best interest to ensure the construction of resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and closely foster innovation. (Goal 8, 9 and 12)

By promoting our product worldwide (in the countries that would accept it), we hope to provide a clean, cheap, renewable source of food, that is, with the correct infrastructure, able to grow just about anywhere, reducing inequalities within and among countries. (Goal 10)

The advantages our product brings to the table from an ecological and sustainability viewpoint are non-negligible compared to traditional food production. Government funding towards infrastructure grants for farmers would accelerate the technology-adoption process and provide urgent relief in the fight against climate change and its related impacts. (Goal 13 and 15)