Insect Farms: Investors See Big Profits in Thinking Small When it comes to resolving a big global food problem, a new breed of farmers and their financial backers are thinking small. Work on the worlds largest fly farm has begun in South Africa after the European firm behind the project won much-needed funding from investors, propelling the use of insects as livestock feed beyond academic theory to a commercial venture. The project near Cape Town was conceived by a group of scientists and environmentalists racing to find protein alternatives as rising production of livestock feed such as soy gobbles up more and more valuable agricultural land. The farm, being built by Gibraltar-based AgriProtein, will house 8.5 billion of flies that will produce tons of protein-rich larvae as they feed on organic waste. The tallest barrier to such startups has been the availability of capital, with potential investors deterred by legislative hurdles. But given the prospect of getting hundreds of times more protein feedstock from a single hectare of land compared to traditional sources, political objections are starting to come down. The success of AgriProtein in securing $11 million in funds, while small, is a sign investors are warming to the idea that insects could be big business in the years ahead. Worker holds up fly larvae waiting to be harvested at the AgriProtein project farm near Cape Town. The world has an issue with waste management and also sourcing protein, said Johnny Kahlbetzer, director of Australian agricultural company Twynam, one of several global investors in the fly farm.” If farming insects can solve the two problems, then that is a great outcome, and that is what has motivated our investment, he said.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 12:57:18 +0000
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