Nestlé researching marine farming in Nelson with Cawthron Institute team

Cawthron Institute marine ecologist Paul South and Nestlé researcher Dr Karen Cooper. (Image: BusinessDesk)

Thu, 12 Jun 2025

When mussels “talk” to seaweeds, they don’t use words; they use ammonia and phosphorus. The replies are what the seaweeds spit back as other micronutrients, and the grammar is the distance between the species.A team at Cawthron Institute in Nelson is studying that “language”, funded by a four-year contract with global food giant Nestlé to crack how to farm them together.“Traditionally, it’s the same as on land. We're used to growing things as a single species. This idea of growing species tog...

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