There’s money in live maggots

Practically non-existent a decade ago, maggot farming is increasingly fashionable because it’s environmentally friendly and has the potential to grow exponentially. It uses organic waste that would otherwise be dumped in landfills where it would rot and produce greenhouse gases.

Agriprotein, which Drew said is mainly owned by the private investment offices of wealthy individuals and falls under the Insect Technology Group holding company, raised US$105M in 2018. Ynsect announced a US$125M capital raise this year.

‘‘Insects come with a really compelling story. They can turn low-value waste into high-value protein,’’ said Beyhan de Jong, an animal-protein analyst at Rabobank Group in the Netherlands. Agriprotein is ‘‘going for more international expansion than its peers’’, she said.

While meal and dried maggots can be fed to fish, poultry and pigs as well as pets, the primary market is seen as aquaculture.

Insect feed could eventually displace fishmeal, which is made from wild-caught fish and fed to commercially farmed species. Annually, 20 million tonnes of fishmeal is produced.

Demand for protein feeds made from insects in Europe alone could be 1.2 million tonnes by 2025, de Jong said.

However, regulations in Europe – over the types of waste that can be used and in which forms the insect products can be fed to animals – make expansion more difficult than in South Africa and California.

Current European Union regulations only allow the use of so-called pre-consumer waste, or waste from manufacturing processes. South Africa, in contrast, allows catering waste.

Still, companies such as Protix are now running commercial-scale operations and considering expansion. In May, Protix opened its second factory, a €40 million (NZ$69M) plant that can process 70,000 to 100,000 tonnes of waste a year, according to Kees Aarts, the company’s chief executive.

Protix is marketing its products through innovative methods such as OEREI, eggs produced by chickens fed on maggots, and is looking at Southeast Asia, he said. In addition to meal and oil, it sells live maggots that are fed to chickens. It has received hundreds of approaches about setting up plants, Aarts said. ‘‘The planet is in quite a hurry,’’ he said. – The Washington Post