Project description
How bugs can help alleviate food insecurity
Insects could be the key to a sustainable planet. Faced with the impacts of climate change and the global loss of arable land, insects are a space- and climate-efficient solution. The EU-funded Hive Pro project is developing a scalable insect farming concept consisting of an insect fattening plant and the supply of baby larvae, combined with a service model. Targeting feed mills, it will empower companies to adopt this insect-based disruptive technology. As Europe imports nearly three quarters of high protein feeds, the project’s solution will reduce production costs and increase the supply of European produced protein feeds for a resilient food system. Having identified 175 potential customers in the EU, the project is conducting its first pilot at a feeding mill in Austria.
Objective
Livin Farms´ vision is to feed the world while saving the planet. We develop, build and commercialise disruptive technology to transform food waste into high quality ingredients for feed, food and fertiliser.
The global demand for animal proteins will increase by 60% until 2030. Currently, the EU is importing 74% of high protein feeds that are needed for the most carbon-efficient livestock: fish and poultry. With arable land decreasing and climate change putting additional strain on production, insects are an extremely space- and climate-efficient solution.
However, it is extremely difficult for potential insect producers to enter the market, due to high infrastructure cost, lack of know-how and a sound business case. As the cost of feed accounts for more than half the production costs of insects, we decided to go to where feed is essentially free and the necessary infrastructure already available: Feed mills.
Our value proposition: Empower non-insect companies to use our insect technology to significantly increase their profit.
Our solution: A highly scalable insect farming concept consisting of an insect fattening plant together with the supply of baby larvae, combined with a service model.
Since 2015, we have successfully built, patented and launched two insect farming systems for the education space. Our products are distributed into more than 48 countries. Following our companies’ vision, since late 2018 our focus is on industrial insect farming.
We have a strategic partnership with Europe's largest retailer LIDL and have secured our first pilot customer, an Austrian feed mill. Overall, we have identified 175 potential customers in the EU. This corresponds to a market potential of €770 million for our business for bakery waste alone.
Fields of science
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteins
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculture
- natural sciencesbiological scienceszoologyentomology
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
1230 Wien
Austria
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.