Caribbean Sargassum Becomes Fertilizer for Global Beer Brands

Cancún, Quintana Roo — The sargassum that washes ashore on Mexico’s Caribbean beaches every year is finding an industrial purpose far from the coast: fertilizing the barley fields that supply some of the world’s best-known beer brands.

Through Sarga AgriScience, a biotechnology division spun out of Carbon Wave, seaweed collected from Quintana Roo beaches is processed into an organic agricultural biostimulant called Sargapower. The product is exported to the United States for use on barley crops sold by agricultural firm CHS and used by brands such as Corona and Heineken.

How Brewers Use Caribbean Sargassum

Rodrigo Malagón Millán, the company’s sales director, said the input does not replace traditional fertilizers but acts as a plant protectant against water and environmental stress. Applied at a dose of one liter per hectare, the sargassum-based biostimulant has produced increases of up to 18% in crop yields.

“The biostimulant helps plants a great deal with stress, and the crop we have had the most success with is barley. Major beer brands such as Heineken and Corona have run tests with grain harvested under this system and they recommend us,” he said.

Regulatory Approval in Mexico and the US

Malagón said the product holds regulatory backing from Cofepris, Mexico’s federal health risk protection agency, and from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has allowed it to be sold continuously in the North American agribusiness sector. It is also applied to tomato crops.

Beyond the biostimulant, the company is developing emulsifiers derived from the algae for the cosmetics industry, used in sunscreens and in creams that homogenize water and oils. It is also in research phases for making vegan leather and inputs for 3D printing.