Nicolás Rivero of The Washington Post reports on the growing industry of bug farming.
- The world’s largest insect farm opened in France this year and will eventually be able to produce 15,000 metric tons of protein annually.
- Pitched as a way to reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture, the flies and larvae produced at this facility will be used in animal feed to increase protein content.
- Since 2020 insect start-ups have raised over $1 billion in venture capital.
“Insect start-ups hope large facilities will help them get their foot in the door with big buyers in the market for fish and livestock feed, pet food and fertilizer. ‘If you are just [producing] a few tons or tens of tons you don’t exist,’ said Antoine Hubert, co-founder of Ynsect,a French start-up that specializes in mealworms. ‘This is why we have to design something pretty massive, because you need thousands of tons if not tens of thousands of tons to exist for a single buyer.'”
Read the full article here.
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