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A lot has been written, in recent years, about the benefits of insect protein as an animal feed additive. Numerous studies have weighed up the pros and cons of insect meal, but with the industry expanding at a significant rate, it is clear that there are benefits to using insects as an additive to fish, poultry, and ruminant feed.

Perhaps most obviously, is the how simple the proces is to make protein additives for animal feed from insects. As the industry journal, TheFoodRush, describes, “When the flies have laid their eggs, the trays are transferred to a different container. There they will develop into maggots that eventually reach the end of the larval life cycle. At this moment, they will be put into a heater or dehydrator device to dry them out. Once dry, they can be ground into a flour-like substance that can be added to the meal used to feed livestock, poultry, or fish.”

The next biggest reason for using insect protein as a feed ingredient is demand. As the EU Commission’s CORDIS (Community Research and Development Information Service) states, “Europe currently imports 70 % of its protein for animal feed, putting it at risk from ever-growing competition for feed protein from a global population that is set to exceed 9 billion by 2050. Developing nations in particular are seeing a huge increase in demand for animal products, and there has been a five-fold increase in the total consumption of meat since the mid-1940s.”

However, there are plenty of challenges facing any new industry, and that includes the development of large scale insect protein production.

One of the largest problems facing Insect-For-Feed producers is legislation.

The industry is expanding, there is an evident need for a more sustainable protein feedstock, and yet the law is struggling to keep up with the pace of progress.

As Sarah Nolet, a consultant on food system innovation explains in a recent article on the agribusiness investor website, AGFunder, “Most countries lack a regulatory framework equipped to handle the potential risks (e.g., concerns over mad cow disease in Australia), while still allowing for innovations to enter the market. China is a clear exception, as they have an established regulatory framework, which is why companies like Protix have gone there to scale up production and establish traction.”

But now it seems that the tide has turned, and lawmakers are seeing the logic of environmentally friendly, sustainable, and circular economy insect farming for animal feed. As a report by the scientific journal, LabManager, states, “Until recently, insect-based feed was not allowed in the farmed fish industry in Europe. After years of discussions with European Union officials the EU Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed voted in December 2016 to allow insect proteins to be used in fish feed in Europe starting July 2017. [Although] only protein from eight insect species, including that from mealworms and two species of flies, are permitted.”

But there are still hurdles to be passed, even for using insect meal in petfood, as the industry journal, PetFoodIndustry.com, makes clear, “At the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) meeting in January, the Committee indicated that new definitions for each insect, type of ingredient (flour, meal, protein concentrate, etc.) and intended species would need to be established first for the insect ingredients to be considered acceptable.” Adding that, “To date, only one insect, black soldier fly larvae (AAFCO #T60.117) has been defined, and that is limited to use in salmonid feeds.”

Pressure is growing though to pass legislation to further free up the use of insects as an animal feed raw material. This process has already begun in the EU, where, according to the journal FarmingUK, “The European Commission officially authorised insect-based processed animal proteins (PAPs) as feed for aquaculture animals on May 24, 2017, through a change to Annex IV of Regulation 999/2001, with the regulation text to come into effect on July 1 this year.”

However, many animal feed suppliers do not think that the legislation goes far enough, and are pressing, “… to allow ‘safe and sustainable’ insect-based feedstock for the pork and poultry industries.”

One such supplier is Mohamed Gastli, co-founder and CEO of insect farmer nextProtein, who believes that, “What must now be a priority is ensuring outdated regulations are amended to ensure safe and sustainable insect proteins can be used in the poultry and pork industries.

“Insect proteins are one of the most abundant sources of alternative proteins but until now the legal framework covering insect proteins needs has yet to fully catch up to the future of what businesses like ours can offer to modern agriculture.”

There has been significant media coverage on the need for a circular economy. The global and political will to combat climate change is present, and the need to increase global food production is well known, and yet many legislative bodies are reluctant, or simply too slow, to pass legislation allowing the increased use of insect meal as an animal feed source.

Already, two billion humans regularly consume insects as part of the diet, and yet we are concerned about the impact it will have on cattle and swine. Or even poultry, which have a natural urge to scratch and hunt for farmyard bugs.

If it is public opinion that is slowing down progress, then maybe we need to have an open debate about the advantages of insects as a protein source. For while it may seem unnatural to feed cows meal worms, growing acres and acres of corn and soybean for cattle feed isn’t very natural either.

Photo credit: Marcel Bekken

According to numerous animal feed industry studies the demand for insect protein as a feed ingredient is set to grow. In fact one recent report from the animal feed journal FeedNavigator suggests that, “The size of the insect feed market is predicted to top $1bn by 2022.”

$1 billion is a lot of money, and a lot of feed manufacturers are hoping to cash in on that prize. In America, for example, Intrexon Corporation and Darling Ingredients have teamed together to, “to significantly expand production of advanced ingredients for sustainable feed and nutrition derived from black soldier fly (BSF) larvae.”

Randall Stuewe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Darling Ingredients, pointed out the logic to the expansion when he said, “BSF larvae represent an innovative approach to address challenges within the global food supply chain by providing environmentally friendly, nutritious ingredients for animal feed.”

Meanwhile, the press release announcing the animal feed plant expansion explained how, “An insect-based approach offers significant potential to convert nutrients from abundant food surpluses and renewable energy co-products into valuable proteins, oils, and fertilizers. Additionally from an ecological perspective it also allows for decreasing dependence on non-sustainable protein sources for animal feed. Within the fish and poultry markets, BSF larvae also represent a more typical diet for these natural insectivores as compared to soy and other plant-based meals, making them an ideal candidate for nutritive feed ingredients.”

And this project is not alone, as Sarah Nolet, a consultant on food system innovation highlighted when she wrote, “Insect-for-feed (IFF) startups have emerged around the world to capitalize on the [sustainable livestock feed] opportunity, particularly for aquaculture, including:

• Ynsect (France; $37M raised)
• AgriProtein (South Africa; $30M raised)
• Enterra (Canada; $5M raised)
• nextProtein (France; €1.3 million raised)
• Protix (Netherlands; undisclosed)
• EnviroFlight (USA; acquired by Intrexon Corporation)
• Mad Agriculture (USA)”

In an illuminating article on the agribusiness investor website, AGFunder, she further outlined the many advantages of insect protein as an animal feed additive source. This included the following,

1. Sustainability. “insects require very little land or energy to produce, and they can be produced quickly and all year round, unlike other feedstock such as soybeans.”

2. Demand for Protein. “The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that commercial feed production will need to increase by 70% by 2050 to meet the growing demand for protein.”

3. Beyond Aquaculture. “research studies have shown insects have higher palatability with relative conversion/production rates and less consumption in chickens; and other studies indicate larvae enzymes may help improve.”

4. A profitable solution to food waste. “40% of food is wasted in the US, and yet flies thrive on food waste.”

But there are disadvantages too.

The Challenges in the Insect-For-Feed Sector

One of the biggest challenges facing IFF companies is the struggle to make headway against the vast, industrial scale production of traditional animal feed suppliers. This has resulted in problems with up-scaling; as the industry struggles to build infrastructure, breed sufficient quality ‘parent stock’, meet consistent standards of product, and combat legislation that is restricting growth for a revolutionary new product.

However, the science behind the use of insects as an animal feed source is persuasive, and should provide proof for the budding industry’s survival.

Antoine Hubert, CEO of meal worm farming company Ynsect, highlighted the evidence of using insect protein as a feed source, when he said, “The animal trials are going very well. For example, in one trial with shrimp that were fed the Ynsect product, they saw around a 34 percent increase in body weight compared with shrimp fed a commercial diet that included fish meal, and mortality was reduced by four times in shrimp affected by early mortality syndrome.”

Another project promotes the farming of housefly larvae fed from the droppings of nearby chicken farms, and is being held on farms in the UK. As the online journal, Science, notes, “[the farms] have produced hundreds of kilos of dried maggots in the last few months as part of an E.U.-funded research project called PROteINSECT. They are now being fed to fish, pigs, and chickens in large trials.”

It may takes decades for the insect for animal feed sector to make a real impact on the livestock farming industry. Maybe the predictions are correct, and the market will be worth $1 billion by 2022. Maybe, the larger animal feed manufacturers will cut prices on traditional feedstocks and force the currently smaller insect feed suppliers out of business.

However at present, the industry is certainly expanding, and animal feed manufacturers who have not looked into using insect protein may be missing out. Insect meal may not be as revolutionary as many feed experts expect, but as Jason Drew, co-founder of AgriProtein, a South African based insect meal company notes, “Even if we get less than 1% of the animal feed market we will be happy.”

Photo credit: EnviroFlight

If we are serious about the problem of wasted phosphorus product, then there are a number of areas the fertilizer industry and agribusiness could focus on to prevent a future market meltdown of ‘peak phosphorus’ proportions.

Many of these were set out in a recent article published by the Institute for Sustainable Futures, when it stated the following targets;
• increasing the efficiency of fertiliser application (only 20% to 30% of P in fertiliser is taken up by plants every year)
• recovering and reapplying waste such as urine and faeces (adults excrete 98% of the phosphorus they consume!)
• reducing phosphorus losses from crop spillages, non-edible crop by-products, and wastage during food processing, retail and household food consumption
• reducing the quantity of meat consumed in the average diet (producing meat products require 10 times the phosphorus required to produce vegetable-based products).

A 2013 report by Dr Dana Cordell and Dr Stuart White, of  Sydney’s University of Technology, which was published through the scientific journal Agronomy, explained how an integrated approach to phosphorus use on farms could achieve the highest efficiency rates. The report combined a number of current practices used to improve efficiency, with, “…examples ranging from increasing efficiency in the agricultural and mining sector, to technologies for recovering phosphorus from urine and food waste.” The report went on to highlight how there is no silver bullet for wasting less phosphorus, but instead a mixture of measures taken together could prove most effective. It stated that, “An integrated approach will enable scientists and policy-makers to take a systematic approach when identifying potential sustainable phosphorus measures.”

Meanwhile the Institute For Sustainable Futures also questioned current practices, asking, “Do we need national phosphorus recovery targets? Subsidies on renewable phosphate fertilisers? Phosphorus use cap and trade schemes? Perhaps it’s high time to form an Intergovernmental Panel on Phosphorus Security.”

While some of these ideas might seem radical, they are only part of the early discussion that will hopefully delay or put an end to potentially catastrophic problems if phosphorus markets begin to react in the way that today’s oil markets do.

Certainly there is pressure on governments to act to ensure that their populations have food security. One such institute applying pressure is Phosphorus Futures, an NGO that is part of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Partnership on Nutrient Management. In a recent report it noted that, “Food demand is on the rise globally with no slowing down in sight. More demand for meat and dairy, especially in China and other rapidly growing economies, means more demand for fertilizers. While our bodies only need around 0.4 kg of P each year, we are mining 22.5 kg of phosphate rock for each person’s diet.”

Many industries are aiming to be a part of the circular economy, but clearly phosphorus fertilizer manufacturers are some way off. With such a low rate of return from the fertilizer supplier to the consumers’ plate, perhaps everyone in the industry should be thinking less about supplying more fertilizer, and more about wasting less phosphorus.

Photo credit: White and Cordell

Photo credit: PorterIndiana