Insect pioneer signs 200 fly farm deal
SOUTH African insect feed pioneer AgriProtein has signed a US$10 million deal to build 200 fly farms around the world in the next 10 years.
The partnership, with international engineering group Christof Industries, will involve the construction of up to 25 fly farms a year, up-cycling organic waste into insect protein for animal feeds.
Using a high-tech blueprint developed with Christof Industries, AgriProtein plans to roll out 100 factories by 2024 and a further 100 by 2027.
The agreement will help bring insect protein into the mainstream of feeds used in aquaculture, poultry farming and pet food, claims the company.
AgriProtein rears fly larvae at an industrial scale on organic waste that would otherwise go to landfill, and harvests the larvae to make natural, high-protein feed products as a sustainable alternative to fishmeal and soybean meal.
The company’s co-founder and CEO, Jason Drew, said: ‘Waste-to-nutrient technology is starting to get traction and price per tonne is key in the fight to replace fishmeal. Christof’s expertise has enabled us to boost output and reduce costs, making us even more competitive and giving us a sound model for rapid global expansion.’
Christof Industries will deliver the factories on a turnkey basis as AgriProtein’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner.
The fly farms will be operated by local licensees of AgriProtein technology in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.
The contract follows Christof Industries’ upgrade of AgriProtein’s industrial plant in Cape Town, in which it enhanced existing automation to more than double waste-processing capability. AgriProtein is now able to up-cycle up to 91,000 tonnes of organic waste a year to produce up to 7,000 tonnes of insect meal and oil.
Johann Christof, CEO of Christof Industries, said: ‘We now have an EPC model to deliver cost-efficient, high-volume fly farms anywhere in the world.
‘The demand for sustainable insect protein is growing rapidly and as AgriProtein’s partner we will help meet that demand.’
AgriProtein’s industrially scalable solution to the depletion of fish stocks in the Indian Ocean was a key success factor in winning an AU$ 450,000 award in the Australian government’s Blue Economy Challenge in November 2016. And its contribution towards reducing waste to landfill won the company a place in the Global Cleantech 100 list announced last month.
Drew added: ‘Our mission is to find a better way to feed the world. Replacing fishmeal with insect meal in animal feed allows the oceans to heal and reduces greenhouse gases.’