By Oren Saar, CEO, Agwa

For the global maritime industry, sustainability is no longer a peripheral consideration. Instead, it’s central to how companies are perceived by investors, customers, and regulators alike. But as shipping’s decarbonisation agenda accelerates, so too does the need for innovation beyond fuel systems and energy efficiency. True sustainability requires a holistic approach, and one often-overlooked aspect is food.

Oren Saar, CEO, Agwa

Today, over 90% of the world’s goods move by sea, supported by a global crew of nearly two million seafarers. These workers spend weeks, sometimes months, at sea, often with minimal access to fresh, nutrient-rich food. Provisioning depends on unpredictable port schedules, volatile supply chains, and a global cold chain that is increasingly under pressure from climate events and geopolitical disruption.

Most vessels stock fresh vegetables at port but supply typically lasts only up to 14 days. After that, meals rely on frozen, preserved, or canned ingredients. This nutritional gap isn’t just a wellbeing issue, it impacts cognitive performance, energy levels, and morale. It also compounds recruitment and retention challenges, as seafarers seek better working and living conditions at sea.

At Agwa, we saw an opportunity to help shipowners rethink provisioning at sea, and not by demanding more from supply chains, but by enabling vessels to grow their own vegetables onboard, using fully autonomous, AI-powered growing systems. Each unit is ‘plug-and-play’, requiring only water, electricity, and Wi-Fi. The system uses an ‘AI agronomist’ to optimise growing conditions 24/7, based on image recognition, sensory data, and behavioural analysis, with zero crew intervention beyond harvesting. Harvesting is prompted via a user-friendly app, which many seafarers look forward to and describe as the most rewarding moment of their day.

Leafy greens, herbs, and nutrient-dense vegetables can now be grown at sea, reliably, consistently, and chemical-free. A single unit supports 6-7 crew members and can be scaled up depending on vessel size or voyage length. Importantly, the system is designed to match, and in some cases even reduce, existing provisioning costs, while delivering guaranteed fresh produce throughout the voyage.

This technology is already being adopted by leading shipowners including Maersk, Synergy Marine, Eastern Pacific Shipping, Capital Ship Management, and others. With long-haul container vessels, LNG carriers, and tankers increasingly seeking operational and ESG advantages, the appetite for cost-effective, low-intervention sustainability solutions is growing.

While crew health and welfare are primary drivers, the environmental impact of onboard farming is equally significant.

Traditional provisioning involves a sprawling logistics chain – land transport, refrigeration, packaging, spoilage, last-mile delivery. Each of these steps adds emissions, waste, and inefficiencies. 

Agwa eliminates this waste at the source. There is no spoilage. There are no packaging materials. There is no need for refrigerated transport. And there are no downstream emissions tied to fresh produce provisioning, restocking, or food disposal.

Each onboard unit includes a real-time ESG dashboard, tracking key performance indicators such as CO₂ savings, water efficiency, product output, as well as crew interaction and harvesting metrics.

Importantly, these data points can be integrated into fleet-wide ESG reports and help operators demonstrate progress toward Scope 3 emissions reduction, food waste minimisation, and improved working conditions – all themes central to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing) and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).

This transparency allows shipowners to communicate measurable impact to stakeholders – a growing necessity as sustainability reporting frameworks tighten under the EU Taxonomy, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and evolving International Maritime Organization (IMO) targets.

ESG in shipping has historically skewed toward decarbonisation and energy efficiency, and understandably so. But as the social dimension of sustainability gains momentum, solutions like Agwa’s demonstrate that environmental and human progress are not mutually exclusive.

Improved nutrition supports cognitive alertness, decision-making, fatigue reduction, and mental wellbeing – all of which have operational consequences, reducing the risk of human error and accidents. 

Industry reports such as the Q4 2024 Seafarers Happiness Index detail the continued link between access to fresh, nutritious food and crew satisfaction. Seafarers often report low energy levels, declining health and morale, and dissatisfaction with the repetitive nature of meals – particularly during long voyages.

By providing fresh, flavourful greens on board, shipowners address a fundamental wellbeing issue. The presence of living plants on a vessel – and the act of harvesting them – has been consistently cited by crew as a boost to mental health, mood, and social cohesion, providing them with greater autonomy and a sense of care from shipowners. It becomes not just a nutritional intervention, but a psychological one as well.

In an industry facing labour shortages and a new generation of seafarers that expect higher welfare standards, this matters. 

What once sounded like a futuristic idea – growing vegetables at sea using AI – is now proving to be a scalable, cost-neutral upgrade to vessel operations. Agwa’s goal is not to disrupt supply chains, but to de-risk them. By complementing provisioning with onboard resilience, we help shipowners adapt to change rather than react to crisis.

These systems do not require vessel redesign or specialist user training. They’re modular, flexible, and suited to a wide range of fleets. They’re also aligned with current and future Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) guidelines around crew nutrition and wellbeing.

At a time when sustainability is under a microscope, this technology gives shipping companies a way to take visible, tangible action, for the planet, for their people, and for their bottom line.

Sustainability is no longer a box to tick, it’s a competitive advantage. And for shipowners seeking high-impact, low-disruption solutions, onboard farming offers a rare alignment of values and value. By rethinking how food is sourced at sea, we are helping commercial shipping evolve, not just toward decarbonisation, but toward a more human-centred, resilient future.