“This video recording of the expert seminar at Arizona State University(ASU), March 5, 2020, was convened to discuss halophyte plants worldwide and their wider adoption for many purposes:
1.) to expand the human food system from its perilous reliance on the planet’s dwindling 3% of freshwater;
2.) opportunities for investing in these saltwater crops ;
3.) halophytes as restorers of degraded and desertified lands;
4.) conserve freshwater for human uses;
5.) halophytes with their deep roots ‘ abilities to capture and store ambient CO2 . and
6.) to improve human nutrition and health.
We discussed the powerful vested interests in traditional freshwater food systems, the agro-chemical industrial production and marketing of processed foods, the reliance on pesticides and fertilizers, and other cognitive barriers to embracing halophyte foods and saltwater agriculture.
Since this seminar, there are signs that halophyte foods are gaining greater market acceptance, e.g. quinoa, the wild grain now available widely in supermarkets, with its superior nutrition, salt-tolerant rice marketed in China and the new interest in salicornia, the delicious vegetable known as “sea asparagus“ by gourmet chefs and restaurants.
In 2020 the growth of plant-protein foods and beverages is enjoying double-digit growth worldwide, and this has now opened the global opportunities to finally incorporate halophytes into this new plant-protein food system while reducing animal-raised meat, with its 15% emissions of greenhouse gases, overuse of anti-biotics and dangers of zoonotic viruses, half of which come from domesticated livestock slaughterhouses and meat processing factories.
This video at ASU is my presentation of investment and marketing opportunities for halophytes and saltwater agriculture.
~Hazel Henderson, Editor“
Video & Link: Greening The Global Food System