Sustainable insect agriculture
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Unlocking the potential of a powerful circular economy play.
Raising insects to create sustainable protein and soil amendments
The Opportunity
With a growing global population, the demand for protein is skyrocketing. At the same time, our oceans and arable land are under pressure from overuse, climate change, and the impacts of industry. Sustainable sources of protein like insects – particularly for animal feed and pet food – help to reduce the stress on the planet’s food production systems, and represent a positive new industry for Canada.
The Challenge
Oberland Agrisciences is on a mission to create the most sustainable protein on the planet. They were piloting a cutting-edge approach to raising insects, leveraging expertise in engineering, biology and logistics to help them convert food waste into feed for black soldier fly, which could be a nutritious source of protein for poultry, pets and fish in aquaculture settings. But producing feed for animals that are part of the human food chain requires industrial scale volumes and extensive regulatory approvals. Oberland needed to convert their R&D facility to an industrialized pilot production plant to achieve this potential.
The work funded by NPC accelerated our piloting process, regulatory approval and capacity to validate insect protein as a new RAS-Specific aquaculture feed ingredient in Canada.
NPC’s Solution
NPC provided Oberland with $100,000 through the Proof of Concept Program to tackle the scaling and regulatory requirements they needed to move to profitable production. The work focused on obtaining CFIA approval as a feed mill, and the process optimization, industry standards and certifications needed to become a feed ingredient producer. As a result, Oberland was able to validate pilot production with industrial processes, de-risking the technology and positioning the company for expansion. Oberland has since gone on to build a 100,000 sq ft expansion plant using state of the art sustainable approaches to produce a zero-waste protein.
NPC is committed to the creation of natural products that are better for people, animals and the planet. We propel early-stage Canadian innovators with the advice, connections and capital they need to develop and de-risk their solutions quickly and efficiently.
Oberland Agrisciences
Description:
Sector(s):
Agriculture, Animal, AgtechFunding Type:
Proof of ConceptProvince:
Nova ScotiaFunding Amount:
$100,000
Year of Funding:
2019Name:
Greg Wanger