FlAgship demonstration of industrial scale production of nutrient Resources from Mealworms to develop a bioeconomY New Generation

FlAgship demonstration of industrial scale production of nutrient Resources from Mealworms to develop a bioeconomY New Generation

The world faces a major challenge with the sharp increase in demand for meat and fish by 2050, to which current modes of production, whether through agriculture, aquaculture or fisheries, cannot be sustained. An innovative solution to this predicted shortage of resources, especially protein, lies in insect production and processing which can provide a serious response, but to date no industrial scale of production of insect-derived products has been reached. The FARMYNG project has this ambition to develop on an industrial and automated scale the breeding and transformation of insects for the production of animal nutrition, with the strong participation of 20 key actors all along the value chain from the feedstock supply to the final insect transformation. FARMYNG will demonstrate a large-scale, first-of-its-kind bio-based value chain producing sustainable, safe and premium feed products from an innovative origin: the Tenebrio molitor insect (mealworm). The plant developed for FARMYNG will use the efficiency of mealworm physiology to convert vegetal by-products in mealworm biomass and transform those mealworms into sustainable proteins and lipids for fish feed and pet food end markets. In parallel, manure will be recovered for soil fertilization applications. Insects are indeed very effective at converting organic matter. Fed with no-noble materials, insects multiply quickly, and are a rich and natural source of food for certain livestock and pet animals, and probably ultimately for the Humans directly. Insects also emit less greenhouse gases and ammonia and use less water and land than other animal proteins value chains. FARMYNG project, responding to the increasing worldwide proteins demand, will transfer the technology from a demo plant to the Industrial Flagship Plant able to produce almost 1 500 tons of proteins and 400 tons of oil per month, reaching a productions rate never demonstrated before for insect’s proteins production plant.