If you’re farming edible insects for protein, scale is the name of the game, says Singapore-based startup Insectta. But if you’re mining bugs for higher-value functional ingredients, even a tiny startup can potentially compete on the global stage with the right technology.
If crickets—which pack an attractive nutritional punch with a low environmental impact—are going to gain traction in the alternative protein market, two things must happen, says Aspire Food Group. Costs must come down and supplies of consistent, high-quality raw material must go up.
Armed with cash from a Kickstarter campaign and a fervent belief that edible insects were the next big thing for human and planetary health, Pat Crowley introduced many Americans to the concept of eating bugs back in 2012 via Chapul cricket bars.
Future Fields has raised US $11.2 million to scale up fruit flies as production vehicles for high value ingredients including growth factors for cultivated meat production and human recombinant proteins for medical research and biopharmaceuticals.
The FlyFeed founder describes his journey from working at SaaS startups to building his own insect protein company to combat global hunger.
It’s raising the insects on organic byproducts such as food waste, before converting them into proteins and oils for use in animal feed.
The Cambridge, UK-based company aims to recreate ‘upcycling’ in nature by feeding our food waste to fly larvae – which are then fed to livestock.
The Paris-based startup will supply insect protein to ADM’s pet foods division, to create “high-quality nutritional” products with “a significantly lower carbon footprint and land requirement.”
Novel Farming Systems – which includes CEA, aquaculture, and insect production – was the second best-funded agtech category last year, according to AgFunder.
New Zealand’s Scentian Bio is using insect olfactory receptors to detect volatile compounds – and it believes its tech could prove invaluable for the food industry.
The Netherlands startup produces insect protein for a variety of channels, including its own brand of eggs laid by hens that eat its feed ingredients.
London insect farming startup Entocycle will lead the project, which will aim to build a facility that rears black soldier flies by the millions.
The French startup – which farms mealworms to produce ingredients for fish feed, pet food, and crop fertilizers – claims it’s the biggest insect protein round ever.
To spray, or not to spray: That is the question Trapview wants to answer, with the hope its tech can reduce reliance on potentially harmful insecticides.
The team at Spotta wants to enable a lighter use of pesticides by building networks of accurate real-time insect detectors.
Will this new chicken run spur a similar craze for backyard Black Soldier Flies — a tasty and nutritious snack for these trusty lockdown companions?
Dolly the Sheep creator Roslin Technologies is backing the Singapore-based startup and taking it to its new genetic research facility in Scotland.
Goterra is an on-site food waste management technology and service that disposes of waste via modular insect farms.
The world of Black Soldier Fly farming is diversifying. Here’s how.
This episode is perhaps a tad awkward as I interview my boss Rob Leclerc, founding partner of AgFunder, but Rob was as insightful as ever, sharing his thoughts on working in and around the agriculture sector for the past decade.
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