Feed production of the future: The potential of insects as an alternative protein source
Can the industrial breeding of insects for animal feed make a contribution to feeding the growing world population? The “Inhouse Farming – Feed & Food Show”, which will take place from November 12th to 15th, 2024 at the exhibition center in Hanover, is dedicated to answering this question. The B2B platform organized by the DLG (German Agricultural Society) focuses on technologies and solutions that show that insects can now be used economically as an alternative protein source for sustainable animal feed. “Inhouse Farming” optimally complements the world's leading trade fair EuroTier and EnergyDecentral, the internationally leading platform for decentralized energy supply, which also takes place at the same time, with new perspectives and business models for the entire value chain.
Insects are for Prof. Dr. Nils Borchard, Head of DLG Research and Development, the missing link in the circular economy. “They can be the animal feed of the future because they provide valuable proteins, fats and other nutrients. In addition, their production is very resource-efficient.” But what makes them the raw material for feed production in the future? The “Inhouse Farming – Feed & Food Show” in Hanover will provide answers to this question in mid-November.
Black soldier fly in focus
There are now seven insect species approved in the EU that can be used as “processed animal protein” for livestock feeding. The larvae of the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) have proven to be ideal for producing animal feed. Their protein content is comparable to that of soybean meal – 40 to 47 percent in dry matter. “The potential of the larvae is huge,” confirms Dr. Frank Hiller, CEO of Big Dutchman. Because they produce high-quality protein from otherwise hardly usable residues, which is ideal as animal feed. Hiller assumes that the alternative protein source can permanently replace a significant part of the soy imported into Europe. For this reason, Big Dutchman has pooled its existing know-how in the area of insect keeping and production in Better Insect Solutions, founded in 2020. The company, which specializes in complete solutions for insect breeding, is presenting its systems at the “Inhouse Farming – Feed & Food Show”.
What these look like in practice could be seen in Hvirring (Denmark) in November 2023 - when the Enorm Biofactory, currently the largest insect farm in Northern Europe, was opened. Black soldier fly larvae are bred on site on an area of 22.000 square meters and processed into insect protein and oil. Large parts of the technology, including the air conditioning systems for the breeding and fattening areas, the exhaust air purification and heat recovery, the liquid feeding and the boxes for the fattening, come from Better Insect Solutions. The experts plan and build complete high-tech insect farms for investors, including breeding, fattening and processing. The highly automated, modular fattening systems in the range are aimed more at farmers who would like to rely on another source of income as insect fatteners.
Opportunities for livestock feeding
The black soldier flies bred in the Enorm Biofactory receive food that mainly consists of residues from the regional food industry. After about twelve days, the larvae are processed into insect oil and meal, which in farm trials have already shown promising results in production and animal health in poultry and pigs. The goal is to produce 100 tons of larvae daily. With insect-based protein feed, Europe's farmers want to avoid part of their soy imports from overseas in the future. Even though beneficial insects have been approved as a component of fish feed since 2017, such animal feed has so far been a niche product in Europe. Only since September 2021 has it been possible to feed processed animal protein from beneficial insects to pigs and poultry in the EU under an exemption. This opens up new areas of growth for manufacturers of insect proteins such as Livin Farms AgriFood, Illucens and Viscon.
But experts like Prof. Dr. Nils Borchard sees even more possible applications. In addition to being used as animal feed, the farmed insects or their components could also be used in the production of meat substitutes and other foods as well as in the production of cosmetics. So far, the production of insect protein has often been difficult from an economic point of view because the production and processing processes cannot yet compete with conventional feed. “Using agricultural by-products and by-products of the food industry as feed for insect farming can help reduce production costs,” says Borchard. How the potential of organic residues and waste can be exploited is therefore one of the questions that will be discussed as part of the insect theme day on November 12th at the “Expert Stage: Inhouse Farming”. The specialist partner in designing the content is the IPIFF (International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed), a non-profit EU organization that represents the interests of the insect production sector.
Insects as upcycling professionals
The answer to this question has long since attracted research institutes and startups. There are more than enough residues, because “around 58 million tons of unused food are generated in the European Union every year,” explains Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Woidasky from Pforzheim University. The university has been cooperating with Alpha-Protein, a startup from Bruchsal, for several years. “In addition to the selection of suitable by-products from the food industry, the handling of the sensitive animals could also be optimized,” explains the expert in sustainable product development. Alpha-Protein uses these by-products as food for the mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) and upcycles them into a protein-rich raw material with vitamins, unsaturated fatty acids and minerals.
“In addition, when raising the mealworms we obtain a nutrient-rich plant fertilizer, which has many other positive effects such as soil activation and long-term fertilization. Last but not least, by using discarded insect skins (i.e. exuvia), we achieve full recycling of all our material flows,” says company founder Gia Tien Ngo. These are created during the natural molting process and are used to create sustainable products such as alternative plastics. The researchers will now build on the results of the first project. The focus is on the systems and automation of the rearing process. Industrial production is currently being planned in Ludwigshafen on an area of two hectares. 1.000 tons of dried insects and over 5.000 tons of fertilizer are to be produced there every year. The plan is to use stale bread from local bakeries as the primary source of animal feed.
Challenges of automated breeding
The control of environmental factors such as temperature and humidity, the precise handling of the sensitive fly eggs and the even portioning of newly hatched larvae are complex tasks that need to be solved when automating breeding - a topic that the exhibiting companies at the "Inhouse Farming – Feed & Food Show". WEDA Dammann & Westerkamp, a specialist in feeding technologies, will be there in Hanover. The company from Lutten recently delivered a corresponding system including control and process visualization to the Portuguese company EntoGreen. In the system of containers and mixing tanks, the larvae of the black soldier fly are fed with the residues until they reach their final weight. The integrated dosing system ensures an individual combination and precise portioning of the feed substrate in the fattening containers. The residues on which the larvae thrive consist of regional vegetable waste that can no longer be used for food production. “The system generates a substrate for a larval output of around 25 tonnes every day. Its modular structure makes it easy to scale for future expansion,” explains WEDA Export Manager Gabriel Schmidt. A new plant is already being planned and will produce up to 2025 tons of live larvae from 210 with a daily raw material input of 45 tons.
