A leader in U.S. seaweed farming preaches, teaches and builds a wider network

Bren Smith and his GreenWave organization are helping lay the foundations for a generation of seaweed-growing farmers in the United States, while working to build a network of producers and buyers.

Seen from a boat, GreenWave's farm seems unimpressive — little more than lines of white and black buoys, a few hundred yards off the Connecticut coast.

But beneath the dark Atlantic waters, suspended from ropes tied between the buoys around six feet down, seaweed in varying shades of brown undulates.