Integration of Precision Technology into Adaptive Phyconomy Systems for Extensive Tropical Red Seaweed Farming

Efforts are underway among phyconomists to blend precision techniques into the adaptive phyconomy systems that are prevalent in extensive commercial farming of tropical red seaweeds. Phyconomy is the branch of applied phycology that comprises systems of art, science, and technology applied to production systems that yield crops of algae. Adaptive phyconomy is a low-cost, low-control approach that is practiced in situations where the biology of algal crop organisms is poorly understood and/or where confounding variables render precision technologies impractical. Precision phyconomy, on the other hand, is a high-cost, high-control approach to algal crop production that is practiced in situations where the biology of crop organisms is well understood, and culture conditions can be comprehensively controlled. With respect to extensive ocean farming of tropical red seaweeds, adaptive phyconomy methods prevail among coastal seaweed farmers, even as the science and technology sector aspires to apply precision techniques to commercial seaweed farming systems, especially in the cases of farm mechanization, information technology, biosecurity, tissue culture techniques, and molecular taxonomy as applied to cultivar development and propagation. As phyconomy systems evolve, precision techniques will progressively displace adaptive approaches to yield extensive farm systems that are intermediate on the adaptation-to-precision heuristic model curve.