Jeff Hafting

Jeff Hafting

Land-based aquaculture

Jeff Hafting, Ph.D. is a global leader in land-based seaweed cultivation, with more than 30 years of hands-on experience designing, optimizing, and scaling some of the world’s most productive macroalgal systems. Jeff’s work spans seaweed biology, system design, cultivar domestication, R&D strategy, product development, commercial operations, and high-value product development for food, feed, nutraceutical, and cosmeceutical markets making him one of the most experienced practitioners in the global seaweed industry.

Through his company, Totally Seaweed Consulting, Jeff offers consulting services that include:

  • Scaling-Up production
  • Troubleshooting biological + design challenges
  • Research & Development design and data analysis
  • Optimization of production and system design
  • Quality & Value Addition guidance
  • Technical Marketing grounded in science
  • Investor Support
  • Proposal writing and evaluation

Jeff began his seaweed career in 1993, conducting pioneering research on the biological requirements of the industrially important red seaweed Pyropia (Porphyra) yezoensis. During his graduate work at the University of British Columbia. his early work in Pyropia (Porphyra) cultivation laid the foundation for a career devoted to bridging science, system design, and large-scale industrial seaweed production.

Jeff went on to help design, build, and manage the second-largest (and perhaps the most productive naturally lit) land-based seaweed cultivation facility in the world at Big Island Abalone Corporation in Hawai‘i. He later relocated to Nova Scotia, where he led continuous improvements at Acadian Seaplants Limited, home to the world’s largest land-based seaweed cultivation site for food production. At Acadian, Jeff and his team successfully domesticated high-performance Palmaria palmata (Dulse) cultivars, now grown at full industrial scale, an achievement unmatched in global red-seaweed cultivation.

Today, Jeff provides science-driven consulting to help seaweed companies scale up and solve complex technical challenges:

  • Seaweed cultivators scaling production or improving system performance
  • Companies seeking production modelling, system design, or realistic projections to secure funding
  • Teams facing low productivity, contamination, crop fouling, or inconsistent quality
  • Organizations developing R&D programs, proposals, or experimental designs
  • Investors evaluating seaweed technologies or opportunities
  • Public and private funding bodies needing expert technical review

In 2025, Jeff founded Totally Seaweed to bring this expertise to the broader seaweed sector. Through his consulting practice, he helps seaweed companies, investors, and research organizations around the world scale up production, solve complex technical challenges, and design systems that are biologically robust and commercially viable.

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