"Superpower insect" from Upper Bavaria against the climate crisis - "Over 20 inquiries per week"
Created: 01/11/2022, 22:43
By: Sabina Brosch
The two founders, Thomas Kuehn (left) and Wolfgang Westermeier, in front of the automatic production plant with a fattening box full of larvae © Farminsect
The start-up company "FarmInsect" produces insects as sustainable animal feed on the university campus in Freising.
An idea with a future.
Freising/Garching
– Thomas Kuehn likes to fly.
He has millions of black soldier flies buzzing around in their cages.
Kuehn is eager for her eggs, which will turn into millions of larvae in a few days.
"They could be the hope for the animal feed industry and make animal husbandry sustainable." The start-up company "FarmInsect" emerged from this idea with the help of the Venture Labs at the TU Garching, which Kuehn founded together with Wolfgang Westermeier Has.
The "FarmInsect" production facility is located on the university campus in Freising.
Larvae from Freising against the climate crisis: Independence from soy and fishmeal
Managing Director Thomas Kuehn reaches into a box full of larvae, picks it up and raves: “The black soldier fly.
It could mean independence from soy and fishmeal in animal feed for chickens, pigs or fish.
It is a superpower insect that converts almost any feed into high-quality protein," explains Kuehn.
The soldier fly is narrow, shimmering black.
It does not bother humans and most importantly does not spread diseases like other flies that fly from food source to food source.
In the fly stage, it has only one task: to mate and lay eggs the size of a grain of sand, which it deposits in cracks in the wood.
Each female lays up to 1000 eggs.
In a few days, millions of larvae will grow out of it.
"FarmInsect": Larvae turn waste into valuable protein
In this worm-like stage, it will eat anything that comes its way: rotting fruit or vegetables, grains, pomace, sugar beet pulp, or leftover coffee beans.
The larva is an ideal waste recycler of what is produced on a farm.
It turns garbage into valuable protein and at a much faster rate than other insects.
The larvae are easy to care for, like it warm, but are afraid of the light.
Eaten full and fat, they can then be fed to pigs, chickens or fish.
"This is much more environmentally friendly than feeding with fishmeal or fish oil, the production of which contributes to overfishing of the seas."
But the fly is also interesting because it can displace the feed soy.
Because 90 percent of soy is genetically modified in the traditional growing countries such as the USA, Brazil and Argentina.
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In addition, especially in Brazil, the already endangered rainforest is being burned down for soybean cultivation.
The larvae are fattened in climate chambers that are automatically controlled around the clock.
© Farminsect
Pigs and chickens, however, need protein feed.
The fact that around 3.9 million tons of soy are imported from the USA to Germany every year shows the financial potential of the fly as a substitute for soy.
Kuehn is banking on this potential.
At his side is the second company founder, the biologist and agricultural scientist Wolfgang Westermeier.
He is responsible for biological research, finance and quality assurance.
He discovered the black soldier fly as a business idea.
Thomas Kuehn takes care of putting "FarmInsect" on course for growth.
By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.
However, the start-up is currently developing almost automatically.
“More than 20 inquiries a week from interested farmers land on Kuehn's desk.
"FarmInsect" supplies them with the young larvae and also a complete system developed by the company, with which every farmer can start producing and marketing insects.
“Farmers can thus produce their own animal feed.
This allows them to free themselves from the supply chains that are dependent on the world market and save around 20 percent on feed costs.”
Larvae approved as feed since 2017
The animal feed market has been moving for a number of years, the use of rapeseed and sunflower meal is increasing, and local soya is also being grown.
But these alternatives are far from sufficient to cover the protein requirement.
Insects have been permitted as feed for livestock in the EU since 2017.
Since then, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has also been funding the "Competitive Insect Products" project.
Insects are therefore a renewable and local resource that does not consume cultivated land.
The larvae of the black soldier fly can refine regional residues into high-quality protein feed.
© Farminsect
According to Kuehn, if people were to consume more insects for animal feed and also as food, fields, fields and meadows could be fertilized with the material left over from insect production: with the excrement of the animals and with the shed shells after molting.
All in all, young entrepreneur Thomas Kuehn sees the breeding of the black soldier fly as an important building block for a sensible recycling economy in the food production of the future.
You can find more current news from the district of Freising at Merkur.de/Freising.
