Portuguese fly farmer eyes Scottish salmon opportunity

Daniel de Moura Murta, of EntoGreen, told Feednavigator.com: “We want to see the opportunities that exist there. It is an important fish feed market.”

EntoGreen says work will start on its first commercial-scale black soldier fly-derived feed protein facility at the end of 2019. Capacity will be about 3,000 tonnes per annum.

‘Ento-preneurs’

Feednavigator.com reported that up to now, EntoGreen, which was founded in 2014, has focused on research projects, developing its technical knowledge, and establishing alliances with industry and government stakeholders.

“We have R&D projects related to insect use in fish farming but since [the onset of business] we have been dedicated to [exploring insect feed use] in poultry. We believe the law [on insect protein inclusion in EU poultry feed] is going to change in one year, or in two years maximum, giving us enough time to build the factory,” Murta told the website.

EntoGreen is one of four “Ento-preneurs” making short presentations at today’s workshop, along with Betabugs, Entocycle and Multibox.

Legislation and regulation

Part 1 of the workshop, being held at the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation in Infirmary Street, looks at the need for alternative, sustainable protein.

Part 2 is an introduction to insect farming covering legislation and regulation, and part 3 focuses on “the Scottish opportunity” for insect farmers, including the significant protein demand of the Scottish fish farming sector.

Business support and finance will also be covered, and there will be a practitioner presentation from Bon Tjeenk Willink of insect farming company Protix.

The fully-subscribed workshop is being delivered 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.