{"id":11421,"date":"2019-02-06T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2019-02-06T15:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/?p=11421"},"modified":"2019-02-06T10:00:10","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T15:00:10","slug":"alumnus-makes-aquaculture-a-way-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/blog\/2019\/02\/06\/alumnus-makes-aquaculture-a-way-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumnus makes aquaculture a way of life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most Maine Business School (MBS) students want to make some green after college, but few take it as literally as Todd Jagoutz \u201901.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jagoutz\u2019s Biddeford-based company, Sea Greens Farms, is on the forefront of aquaculture processing, research and development, and distribution. And like the seeded lines of his kelp farm off Maine\u2019s southern coast, Jagoutz\u2019s love of the water runs deep. <\/span><\/p>\n

Growing up in Duxbury, Massachusetts, a coastal town between Boston and Cape Cod, Jagoutz spent a lot of time on the water.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was always fishing and exploring in Duxbury and Plymouth Bays,\u201d he says. \u201cI was ocean-oriented.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet among his coastal excursions, Jagoutz made time for another passion: football. His success on the field in high school led to official visits with college teams, and, eventually, UMaine made the cut.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I stepped on campus and met the players, I knew it was the place for me,\u201d says Jagoutz. \u201cI had a lot in common with the guys in Orono, and it was a great fit socially.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In his four seasons as the Black Bear\u2019s kicker and punter, Jagoutz also discovered that business was a great fit. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was never a bad student (in high school), but I definitely did not prioritize academics,\u201d he says. \u201cThe deeper I got into the business school, the more interested I became in learning. Organically, academics became a priority and passion, which I credit to the MBS professors.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After setting a few football scoring records, Jagoutz graduated from UMaine in 2001 and spent a quick stint at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, where he quickly realized his love of sales. But after nearly two decades as a salesman, he was ready for a change. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to do something that would help the environment and create a legacy,\u201d says Jagoutz. \u201cAquaculture had always interested me, and not long into my search, seaweed farming hit my radar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

His plan was to start a small seaweed farm for education and research, and as a way to get back on the water, but he quickly encountered a roadblock. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t any infrastructure to process or sell (seaweed) because the industry was so new,\u201d says Jagoutz.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, in 2016, he and three business partners founded Sea Greens Farms (SGF) at the Pepperell Mill in Biddeford. SGF is a purchaser, processor and distributor of farmed seaweed. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe buy seaweed from a network of independent ocean farmers and turn it into a product that ultimately ends up in food you eat, like snack bars and soups,\u201d says Jagoutz.<\/span><\/p>\n

The company also operates the highest capacity, most technologically advanced seaweed hatchery on the East Coast.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSeaweed farmers have to \u2018plant\u2019 their crop, so they take a seed string and wind it on a larger, anchored line,\u201d explains Jagoutz. The seed strings they use are created at hatcheries like the one at Sea Greens Farms.<\/span><\/p>\n

The industry is still new, arguably just now moving beyond boutique, and Jagoutz knows Sea Greens Farms is still considered a startup.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking to diversify our product line, grow our sales force, and expand the hatchery,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amid the success, Todd understands Sea Greens Farms does not exist in a bubble, but rather functions as a part of Maine\u2019s diverse business landscape.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhere we operate in the marine economy, there\u2019s an issue where third- and fourth-generation fishermen are being forced off the water because of overfishing and warming oceans due to climate change,\u201d Jagoutz says. \u201cOur goal is to help build the blue-green economy and give these generational fishermen a way to stay on the water and provide for their families. We want to show that seaweed farming is a viable, long-term product for Maine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most Maine Business School (MBS) students want to make some green after college, but few take it as literally as Todd Jagoutz \u201901. Jagoutz\u2019s Biddeford-based company, Sea Greens Farms, is on the forefront of aquaculture processing, research and development, and distribution. And like the seeded lines of his kelp farm off Maine\u2019s southern coast, Jagoutz\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1455,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"50","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","spc_primary_category":0},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni-profiles"],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","archive_9_5":"","portrait_3x4":"","image_16_9":"","image_15_7":"","image_25_7":"","3col-image_16_9":"","3col-image_15_7":"","3col-image_full":"","4col-image_16_9":"","4col-image_15_7":"","4col-image_full":"","6col-image_16_9":"","6col-image_15_7":"","6col-image_full":"","8col-image_16_9":"","8col-image_15_7":"","8col-image_full":"","9col-image_16_9":"","9col-image_15_7":"","9col-image_full":"","12col-image_16_9":"","12col-image_15_7":"","12col-image_full":"","post-thumbnail":"","gform-image-choice-sm":"","gform-image-choice-md":"","gform-image-choice-lg":"","umaps-featured-image":"","umaps-icon-size":""},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"

Most Maine Business School (MBS) students want to make some green after college, but few take it as literally as Todd Jagoutz \u201901. Jagoutz\u2019s Biddeford-based company, Sea Greens Farms, is on the forefront of aquaculture processing, research and development, and distribution. And like the seeded lines of his kelp farm off Maine\u2019s southern coast, Jagoutz\u2019s love of the water runs deep. Growing up in Duxbury, Massachusetts, a coastal town between Boston and Cape Cod, Jagoutz spent a lot of time on the water. \u201cI was always fishing and exploring in Duxbury and Plymouth Bays,\u201d he says. \u201cI was ocean-oriented.\u201d Yet…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"Alumni Profiles<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"","url":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/blog\/author\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":50,"label":"Alumni Profiles"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/blog\/author\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":50,"name":"Alumni Profiles","slug":"alumni-profiles","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":50,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":3,"count":33,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":50,"category_count":33,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Alumni Profiles","category_nicename":"alumni-profiles","category_parent":3}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11421"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11423,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11421\/revisions\/11423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}