Scotland ‘a great place to farm insects’
Farming insects such as mealworm and black soldier fly for use in farmed fish and animal feed is to be explored in three online events hosted by Zero Waste Scotland.
The first event, An Introduction to the Insect Sector, will be held next Tuesday, November 17, from 1.30pm-3.30pm. Places are free but limited and can be booked here.
Further events on protein production and the circular bioeconomy will be held on Thursday, November 19 and November 26 respectively, from 9am until 1.30pm and can be booked here.
Sustainable protein
The protein production event includes a presentation from nutrition expert Dr Sam Houston, of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre, and Dr Antonios Chalaris, UK product manager for salmon feed producer BioMar, will speak at the circular bioeconomy event.
The events will be delivered in partnership with Dutch insect sector expert New Generation Nutrition (NGN), under the European Union’s ValuSect project.
Zero Waste Scotland says that while both agriculture and aquaculture have worked hard to maximise sustainability in recent years, there is still a growing need for more sustainable sources of feed proteins. Insects could play a valuable role as an alternative feedstock for fish, poultry and pigs and can also be used to make pet food.
They can be fed on surplus produce from arable farms, supermarkets and bakeries on everything from broccoli to crisps. The chitin exoskeletons can be made into a bioplastic, the oils are a useful feed supplement, and the manure can be used as a biofertiliser.
Dr William Clark, a bioeconomy specialist at Zero Waste Scotland, said: “Insect farming could become the next big thing - a way to plug the predicted ‘protein gap’ that has real potential to bring Scotland’s carbon footprint down at the same time.
“It’s also open to everyone, from householders to smallholders, existing food producers looking to diversify to companies in the bioeconomy sector, and entrepreneurs with an eye for innovation. That’s because it doesn’t require lots of space – insect farms can range in size from a small shed or a few shipping containers to industrial scale feed mills. You need to know how to look after them but, in all cases, you can produce significant volumes of sustainable protein using a fraction of the resources.
“Insect farming is already well established all over the world. We don’t have an insect industry here yet, but Scotland really is a great place to farm insects and we’ve seen lots of interest. It’s great for Scotland’s circular economy ambitions that we’re in a position to take advantage of the opportunities insect farming offers, and I would encourage anyone with an interest to sign up to the events to find out more.”
Substrate
A one-day workshop on the potential for insect farming in Scotland was held in Edinburgh in February last year and attracted a full attendance.
The event was organised by Zero Waste Scotland, in partnership with Stirling University’s Institute of Aquaculture, the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre, IBioC, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
One of the barriers to large-scale insect farming highlighted at the event was the limited range of substrate (food) the EU allows for insects going into the food chain. This precludes the use of animal manure, which is plentiful and cheap.
Scotland and the rest of the UK have lagged behind other European countries such as France and the Netherlands, which are beginning to consist supplies of insect protein in the quantities required by feed manufacturers. However, Roslin Technologies, the company commercialising work carried out by Edinburgh University’s Roslin Institute, has been building a “genetic nucleus” for insects at Temple in Midlothian.
Roslin Technologies expects to dramatically improve performance of black soldier fly within a year by using quantitative genetics and genetic selection for targeted breeding.
