Kee Farms
Nicholas Kee, Co-Founder and CEO, and Dean Morris, Co-Founder, and Operations Manager and team
Nicholas Kee, Co-Founder and CEO
Dean Morris, Co-Founder, and Operations Manager
Kee Farms Team
Kee Farms is an ocean farm and community network based in Jamaica focusing on carbon removal through seaweed, oyster cultivation, and ocean habitat restoration. Nicholas Kee, Co-Founder and CEO, and Dean Morris, Co-Founder, and Operations Manager, share their story and their brand vision.
Tell us why you launched Kee Farms?
Dean: Each member of the team has various motivations for starting this endeavour. For the founders, we believe that sustainable entrepreneurship can be done by partnering with the community and key environmental stakeholders to improve lives, create sustainable livelihoods, and regenerate life underwater.
Why are seaweed, oyster cultivation, and ocean habitat restoration needed in Jamaica?
Nicholas: In addition to providing structural habitat and food supplies, shellfish and seaweed favourably influence habitat and contribute to ecosystem services due to their biological activities. Oysters are great filter feeders because they can take nitrogen from the water and use it to build their shells and tissues.
By sequestering greenhouse gases, restoring marine ecosystems, producing biofuel and renewable plastics, and yielding marine protein, seaweed can make a major contribution to the battle against climate change.
How will you bring local fishermen and the rest of the community on board?
Dean: We’re working with Alligator Head Foundation (AHF), a marine sanctuary in Portland Jamaica, and other marine sanctuaries across the island. Marine sanctuaries like AHF have a very tight relationship with the local community because of their community-first approach. AHF is also a sponsor for this project and believed in us to accomplish this heavy mandate by investing and providing a location for us to create the infrastructure and try to pilot the project.
How do you plan on reaching the younger generation coming up?
Nicholas: We’ll start at the source with students. Part of our mission is to make our model easily replicable and then create training programs for universities like the College of Agriculture Science and Education (CASE), that can eventually integrate our methodology into their curriculum.
You have been growing your team since launching, tell us about them?
Dean: We’re blessed to have met some like-minded individuals locally, that have been motivated by the mandate we have. We have Shauna-Gaye Pusey, our chief of staff. She is the rock of the team, and she is probably the one that solves the major problems we have.
Chelsi-Rae Buckley is the sweetheart of the company and is quietly one of the hardest-working members of our team. Her background is in marine biology, and she is our resident seaweed expert.
We also have Geasean Johnson who is the chief scientist for our team and gives the team a strong scientific grounding with a bit of flair. Aprille Ferguson is our oyster expert, and she is the person that brings smiles and energy with her jokes to the team. Matthew-Pierre Rogers is a marine biologist, newly certified PADI diver, and the newest member of our team who brings youthful energy and a strong love for the ocean.
What are your hopes for the future of Kee Farms, and the future of Jamaica?
Dean: We’re hoping that Kee Farms makes an impact on the blue economy in the Caribbean, by creating the ocean farming blueprint for the area and carving a path for the region to follow suit. For Jamaica specifically, we want to create a thriving network of fisherfolk with the each-one-teach-one mindset that allows them to earn an income while furthering the initiative of profitable climate action.
What do you say to those who think climate change isn’t real?
Dean: As a citizen of a small island developing state, I have absolutely nothing to say to a climate change denier. The rising temperatures and increased frequency of extreme weather conditions speak for themselves.
Nicholas: Climate change is pretty much an undeniable fact right now, and as Dean says we don’t need to be engaging with someone on this topic. You can’t deny reality, the cognitive dissonance will catch up eventually.
Interview by: Sherry Collins / Photography by: Ramalo Turner of Saii Media
