Sam Elsom, the founder of Sea Forest, has been named the 2025 Australian of the Year for Tasmania.
Elsom, a climate solutions innovator, was recognised for commercialising a new way to reduce methane emissions.
He founded Sea Forest, one of the first start-ups to successfully turn asparagopsis, a native Australian red species of seaweed, into a livestock feed supplement.
Sea Forest’s SeaFeed supplement contains bioactive compounds that stop methane production in an animal’s gut.
Adding just 0.2% of the supplement to livestock feed can reduce the methane emissions of cows and sheep by up to 90% while increasing productivity.
Sea Forest was named as a finalist for the $1.9 million Earthshot Prize set up in 2020 by Prince William and nature documentarian Sir David Attenborough.
“Oh my goodness, I’m feeling like a little overwhelmed, incredibly grateful and extremely humbled,” Elsom said on Wednesday evening.
“This means a lot, Tasmania, thank you so much.”
Other finalists for the award included Rees Campbell, a wild food advocate from Wynyard, Sarah De Jonge, the founder of 1000 Hearts in Hobart and Associate Professor Louise Nott, an oncologist and treatment equity champion also based in Hobart.
Elsom and the winners from other states and territories will join the national Australian of the Year ceremony on January 25 next year.
