Feed producer Cargill expands research site from 4 to 12 pens

Cargill Innovation Centre (CIC) in Dirdal in Norway has expanded one of two research sites from four to 12 pens in a move costing NOK 15 million (£1.2m). The other sea site facility already has 12 pens.

An increase in the total biomass ceiling from 910 tonnes to 1,400 tonnes has also been approved. Although the total allowed biomass for both sites is unchanged at 1,560 tons, the increase will mean significantly better flexibility in how feed and feeding trials are run, Cargill said in a press release.

“We now have the opportunity to carry out nutritional trials at almost full scale with up to four different feeds simultaneously,” said Terje Utne, who is responsible for Cargill Aqua Nutrition’s field trials in Norway. “This enables more advanced experimental design and a much-improved scientific outcome compared to field trials comparing one test diet to a reference diet. We don’t necessarily get to carry out more trials, but the information from the trials we carry out becomes much more valuable.”

Better starting point

He is now looking forward to adopting experiment designs that explore extremes so that he can model effects in between. Cargill said this provides a significantly better starting point for continuously adapting its feeds to variations in raw material prices, raw material availability, salmon prices, customer requests and more.

 Kjetil Frafjord is responsible for day-to-day operations at the site. With this expansion his workload will increase as there will be more fish to feed, but he is not complaining. He is rather pleased with the way the expansion was carried out.

 “The entire development project was completed without any injuries or accidents. We established contact with contractors at an early stage and made the necessary risk assessments. We had daily communication with contractors about health and safety, progress, and other matters,” said Frafjord.

“The project was completed slightly below budget, and we were able to release fish into the new pens a week ahead of schedule.”

Better sustainability

The company’s R&D operations director Tor Andre Giskegjerde said: “With state-of-the-art facilities and world-class researchers, the innovation centre in Dirdal lays the foundation for Cargill to offer its customers advice and fish feed of the highest class.

“Field trials are the last step in the development that will contribute to new and more sustainable feed for aquaculture in Norway. Recently, this has received an even greater focus than before as the Government has now made ‘sustainable feed’ a national societal mission. This requires even greater effort and cooperation, and Cargill is prepared to contribute.”