Norwegian seaweed company Kelpinor has completed what it describes as the first commercial export of a cultivated Alaria esculenta-based biostimulant from Norway. A 50-litre shipment of its kelpAGRI® Alaria product is now being applied in commercial agriculture and vineyards in Germany.
"The volume is modest, but the signal from the market is not," said Hermann Schips, the company's CEO and Co-Founder. "This marks the transition of farmed Norwegian seaweed from pilot-scale development to documented commercial deployment within the European biostimulant sector."
© Kelpinor
The 50-litre shipment of Kelpinor's kelpAGRI® Alaria
Why cultivated seaweed, and why now?
The European biostimulant industry is navigating a tightening regulatory environment under EU Regulation 2019/1009, and the limitations of wild-harvested Ascophyllum nodosum, the sector's dominant raw material, are coming into sharper focus. For Schips, the direction of travel is clear.
"Marine biomass must increasingly be cultivated, traceable, documented, and standardised," he said. "This export demonstrates that farmed Alaria esculenta from Norway is now commercially viable and export-ready, cultivated in cold, clean Norwegian waters, refined locally, and documented for EU market compliance."
The company holds CE certification for its kelpAGRI-Asco product and positions its broader range around regulatory alignment. "The European market does not reward narratives," Schips said. "It rewards regulatory alignment, analytical documentation, and reproducible agronomic effect. For distributors and fertiliser formulators, regulatory certainty is no longer optional, it is strategic."
© Kelpinor
Hermann Schips and the kelpAGRI® Alaria biostimulant
A different seaweed altogether
Kelpinor is not dismissing the legacy of Ascophyllum nodosum, which has underpinned the seaweed biostimulant category for decades. But Schips argues that Alaria esculenta offers something meaningfully different. "Ascophyllum has defined the longest-living generation of seaweed biostimulants, and it still has its place, do not get us wrong," he said. "But Alaria represents a differentiated biochemical profile."
Early R&D data from the company points to increased root thickness and elongation, enhanced water uptake depth, improved drought stress tolerance, and a bioactive compound spectrum distinct from conventional Ascophyllum-based extracts. "For formulators operating in a market saturated with Ascophyllum-based products, differentiation is becoming critical," said Schips. "And at present, cultivated, documented Alaria-based biostimulants from Norway remain largely unavailable within the EU supply landscape."
© Kelpinor
Untreated cress plants under high-light stress with lower leaf number and area and thinner root density (left) and treated cress plants under high-light stress with higher leaf number and area and denser root growth (right)
Scaling a new Norwegian export category
Norway has a centuries-long history of exporting marine resources. Kelpinor sees this milestone as the regenerative evolution of that industry. "The objective is not volume alone," Schips said. "It is the long-term structural development of a cultivated marine raw material platform for the European biostimulant industry."
For those considering their supply positioning, he offers a pointed assessment of the competitive outlook. "First movers secure positioning," he said. "The market does not wait."
For more information:
Kelpinor 
Hermann Schips, CEO and Co-Founder
Phone / WhatsApp: +47 4682 2092
[email protected]
www.kelpinor.no
Christoffer Roang, CCO and Co-Founder
Phone / WhatsApp: +47 9246 8570
[email protected]
www.kelpinor.no
