The Welsh coastline is 1,680 miles long. For most of that length, the sea is something you look at, swim in, or harvest from not something you farm in a way that actively gives back to it. Câr-y-Môr is trying to change that.
Wales’ first regenerative sea farm, based in St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Câr-y-Môr grows seaweed and shellfish in the waters of Ramsey Sound using a model that requires zero inputs: no freshwater, no fertiliser, no feed. What comes out of the sea is used to benefit both the table and the land and increasingly, to help farmers reduce their dependence on synthetic fertilisers through the application of seaweed biostimulant. From July 2026, we’re a proud partner in that work through our 1% for the Planet commitment.
What Câr-y-Môr Does
The name translates from Welsh as “For the Love of the Sea” and that’s exactly the spirit in which the community benefit society was founded in 2019. Owned democratically by its members (membership costs £1 and is open to anyone who supports the aims of the society), Câr-y-Môr now farms 8 hectares of Welsh sea, employs 20 working partners in rural Pembrokeshire, and and is working hard to forge a Welsh regenerative sea farming industry: one that creates year-round jobs and opportunities for coastal communities, while improving our sea and land ecosystems, and the food we eat.
Produced at Wales’s first dedicated seaweed biorefinery (Sied-y-Môr, just inshore from the farms) seaweed biostimulant is an alternative to synthetic fertiliser that has shown remarkable results in independent trials. In trials when synthetic fertiliser was reduced by 40% and the biostimulant applied to conventional grassland, grass yield was up 29% with no drop in quality. On cereal and potato fields, yields were maintained with fertiliser reduced by 25–29%. These aren’t small numbers, and they point toward something significant: a pathway for Welsh farmers to reduce their input costs and their environmental footprint at the same time.
The Project We’re Funding
Our three-year partnership from July 2026 to July 2029 through our 1% for the Planet commitment will fund a seaweed biostimulant trial at Pentrefelin Farm in Denbigh, north Wales. Pentrefelin are a small, progressive micro-dairy run by Huw that provides all of our milk for the café. Pentrefelin are passionate about the way they farm and have operated since inception on the principles of regenerative, high-welfare farming using heritage Red Poll cattle. It’s a perfect fit and a chance to extend the positive impact of the café through our trusted suppiers.
Câr-y-Môr will supply the biostimulant and a trial plan, then analyse the data and incorporate the findings into their end-of-year reporting. The trial is part of a growing body of evidence about what seaweed biostimulant can do for Welsh agriculture, and bringing that evidence into north Wales, where Cafe Notos is rooted is a fantastic opportunity.
Beyond the trial we will be partnering with Câr-y-Môr on lots of other exciting initiatives including an event at Cafe Notos, collaborative opportunities throughout the partnership, and support for each other’s storytelling as the work develops. We’re really excited about how this partnership will grow over three years and beyond.
Why It Fits
We source our milk from Pentrefelin and we serve food that depends on healthy Welsh land and clean Welsh water. The idea that our 1% for the Planet giving could directly support a trial on a farm we already work with, connecting Pembrokeshire seaweed to north Wales soil through a partnership that links coast to coast, is exactly the kind of local impact we want to contribute to.
Câr-y-Môr is building something open-source and replicable. Their vision is a Wales where this model becomes normal and we’re glad to be a small part of making the case for it.
