Promoting Farmed Insect Protein to the Scottish Aquaculture Sector
Opportunity to get involved
Scotland is the third largest salmon producer in the world. The Woven Network (the UK-based network for insects as food and feed) has been monitoring the growth of companies involved in industrial scale insect farming for livestock feed, as well as those developing technology for this. 2020 could be the year when this sector becomes of serious interest to the aquaculture sector. We propose to provide a platform that showcases it, setting out the offer at the biennial event that brings together the UK aquaculture sector in May 2020.
As part of this, we will hold a workshop bringing together the funders and key participants of the UK science and innovation community to discuss the innovation challenges of the emerging industrial scale insect farming sector and the underpinning research required. This is to invite you to register your interest in this.
The 2020 Aquaculture UK biannual event will take place on 19-21 May in Aviemore, Scotland. In 2018, it attracted over 2,400 industry representatives and decision makers and over 190 exhibitors between them. It will provide you with both commercial opportunities as well as the chance to collectively put insect farming on the map with both a UK and international audience. Our presence will attract considerable media interest. Woven have already made contact with the organisers to secure a substantial exhibition and workshop space. We are also actively discussing the engagement of a number of the UK’s Government funded innovation bodies, the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre and ZeroWasteScotland.
We have been approached by one of the world-leading industrial insect farming companies to act as a major sponsor. We are keen to have a good gathering of companies that will be in a position to ship product in 2020 to demonstrate the scale of the sector. We urgently need to establish if there is wider interest to make the event commercially viable and ensure we secure enough exhibition space – which is going fast.
Opportunities for involvement:
The event will be funded through sponsorship and selling tiered exhibition packages. We will provide excellent visibility to potential partners and customers through being on our exhibition space. In addition, our sponsors will benefit from a substantial package of promotion via conventional means, social media and our newsletter, and appropriate acknowledgement of their contribution on all publicity that we will be distributing, speaking opportunities at the events, etc.
Our reach exceeds 3,000 followers and subscribers internationally and the partnerships with UK innovation bodies will more than double this. Please email nick.rousseau@woven-network.co.uk as soon as possible, indicating if you are looking to exhibit and/or sponsor. We have been circulating this initiative and so far there are six insect farming companies that have expressed interest. Sponsorship and exhibition places will be limited and will allocated to organisations that fit our criteria on a first come first served basis. Please do respond if interested as soon as possible so we make sure we have enough space at the Exhibition.
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Insects as food and feed
The Royal Entomological Society and ADAS organised a two-day meeting ‘Insects as Food and Feed’ at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, 2-3 April 2019.
A meeting report is available on the Woven Network website.
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Follow watercress?
On 25 March, the London Kitchen Social Live presented their annual interactive dining event with 6 chefs preparing courses that featured watercress. The event was organised by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and the Watercress Association at Grace Hall, City of London. Each chef prepared a course with watercress as a principal ingredient in front of an audience, who then enjoyed an 8-course meal with a consistent theme throughout.
The format would lend itself well to a meal whose courses had insects as their principal ingredient. Anyone who would like to participate in such an event with an insect ingredient or produce an insect based course should contact news@woven-network.co.uk who will co-ordinate an approach for interactive dining on insects.
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Cycle Farms Ghana Ltd. begins feed production
The Frence-based biotechnology company has begun black soldier fly based fish feed production in Tema, Ghana.
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Bill to prohibit US federal funds for insect-based foods
Proponents of insects for food and feed publicise better conversion to protein, less consumption of water, and not using farmland when compared to established means of protein production. When threatened, trade associations can lobby governments to legislate against or restrict funding to newcomers trying to develop their products. Before demitting office, Senator Jeff Flake introduced in December, 2018 S.3716-115th Congress, REDUCE Government Waste Act. It has been co-sponsored by Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Democratic Senator for Nevada since 2017.
This bill: Removing Excessive Dollars to Uproot and Cut Expensive Government Waste Act or the REDUCE Government Waste Act, amends the Agricultural Act of 2014 to repeal rules for peanuts, and prohibits federal funds from being used for the development of a robot bartender. or insect-based foods for human consumption, including cricket farming and taste-testing of insect-based foods.
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Events
27 May 2019 13:00-18:30
Good hygiene practices in insect production
Danish Agriculture & Food Council
Axelborg, Axeltorv 3; 1609 - Copenhagen
Workshop Programme
Email: info@ipiff.org
The FEED-X Programme
WWF-founded enterprise Project X Global seeks the next outstanding innovation to transform the global feed industry. In partnership with Skretting, Climate-KIC, WWF and IKEA, FEED-X is now welcoming applications for sustainable feed innovations from entrepreneurs eager to commercialise their ideas.
Expressions of interest by 10 May for applications by 15 May
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Meetings
6-9 May 2019
Food innovation summit – in the world
Fiera Milano, Rho, Italy
15-16 May 2019-02-19
F&A next - Boosting innovation in food and agriculture
Wagingen Campus
6-8 November 2019
1st Brazilian conference on edible insects and associated technologies, and 2nd Symposium on Anthropo-entomophagy.
UFMG-Montes Claros, MG, Brazil
Programme Email: congresso@insetec2019.com.br
3–6 June 2020
3rd International Conference: Insects to Feed the World – IFW2020
Québec City Convention Centre, Canada
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Publications
1. Sogari G, Amato M, Biasato I, Chiesa S, Gasco L. The Potential Role of Insects as Feed: A Multi-Perspective Review. Animals 2019; 9(4): 119 https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9040119 https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/9/4/119/htm
Recently, insects have received increased attention as an important source of sustainable raw materials for animal feed, especially in fish, poultry, and swine. In particular, the most promising species are represented by the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens, HI), the yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor, TM), and the common house fly (Musca domestica, MD). Although rapid development is expected, insects remain underutilized in the animal feed industry mainly due to technical, financial, and regulatory barriers. In addition, few works have analyzed consumer and stakeholder points of view towards the use of insects as animal feed. In this article, we summarize the main findings of this body of research and provide a discussion of consumer studies regarding the consumption of animals fed with insects. Our review suggests that consumer acceptance will not be a barrier towards the development of this novel protein industry. Furthermore, we conclude that it will be of interest to understand whether the use of this more sustainable feed source might increase consumer willingness to pay for animal products fed with insects and whether the overall acceptability, from a sensory point of view, will be perceived better than conventional products. Finally, the main challenges of the feed farming industry are addressed.
2, Morales-Ramos JA, Kelstrup HC, Rojas G, Emery V. Body mass increase Induced by eight years of artificial selection in the yellow mealworm (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) and life history trade-offs.
Journal of Insect Science 2019; 19(2):4 https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/iey110
Efforts to improve rearing conditions of Tenebrio molitor L. (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) for insect biomass production included selecting for larger size pupae. The effects of an 8-yr continuous selection of T. molitor pupae for larger size were studied. Data consisting of daily counts and weights of pupae were analyzed using regression to determine the effects of selection over time. A preliminary evaluation of food conversion, growth, fecundity, and larval survival was done to compare ancestral versus selected strains. A significant positive correlation was identified between pupal size and time indicating a significant increase in pupal size over time in the selected T. molitor strain. A preliminary comparison of ancestral and selected strains showed significantly larger pupal size, growth rate, fecundity, and efficiency of conversion of ingested food in the selected strain. However, the selected strain also showed significantly lower larval survival than the ancestral strain. The low larval survival impacted the overall productivity of the selected strain resulting in no significant differences in biomass production when compared with the ancestral strain. The potential of using selection to improve biomass productivity in T. molitor is discussed.
Part of a Journal of Insect Science Special Collection: Mass rearing of high-quality insects.
3. Thailand, Kingdom of the Insect Farms
YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrno_FVmFn0
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