Insect Protein Offering ‘Green’ Livestock Feed Alternative as Market Demand Soars

A worker at the Hargol grasshoppers breeding farm watches grasshoppers on July 12, 2020. Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images

Making a meal out of bugs is at the top of many people’s “yuck” factor—as edible protein supplements made from crawling locusts, buzzing flies, and hopping crickets aren’t mainstream in Western cultures.

Nevertheless, some advocates of sustainable farming have found a way around this stigma by using insect protein in livestock feed.

Often marketed as a green alternative for products such as soy, experts estimate the demand for bug protein in animal fodder will reach 500,000 tons by 2030.

Some analysts project the insect farming industry will surpass $3 billion by 2027. That’s a growth rate of 33 percent in the next five years alone.

A logo is pictured on the Nestle research center at Vers-chez-les-Blanc in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Aug.20, 2020. Denis Balibouse/REUTERS

This is because the demand for protein continues to rise in lockstep with the global population. One analysis suggests that commercial food production will need to ramp up by 70 percent by 2050 to meet increasing food demands.

Insect farmers have moved into the spotlight. Major corporations have already invested in research for using insect meal in animal feed. Some have already begun putting it in pet food.

In 2020, Nestle announced its Purina Beyond Nature’s Protein food for pets features insect meal as a key ingredient. The brand is available for dogs and cats and uses a mix of bugs, chicken, and fava beans.

Purina uses black soldier fly larvae, which is a popular protein supplement for animal feed. It also features in European livestock provender.

“You build a facility for black soldier flies or other insects where you can produce them throughout the year, where soy, you only get one crop per year,” Jeffery Tomberlin told The Epoch Times.

Tomberlin is an entomologist and director of the Forensic and Investigative Sciences Program at Texas A&M University. He studies the potential of insect protein for both human and livestock consumption.

Providing Direct Benefits

“I think the black soldier fly is an example that provides direct benefits. We can produce more per year at the given location than soy or other row crops. And we can recycle things contaminating the environment as a feedstock for the black soldier fly,” he said.

Fast-food giant McDonald’s has been experimenting with insect protein as a replacement for soy in chicken feed since 2018.

During the event Feed Protein Vision that year, McDonald’s former director of global sustainable sourcing, Nicola Robinson, said, “One of the main reasons we are looking at alternative proteins is because of our commitment to forests.”

Other household names stepping into the edible bug arena include Tyson Foods, Mars, and PepsiCo.

Sustainability in livestock farming is a hot topic everywhere. Consequently, companies and investors are jumping on the insect protein bandwagon.

The main objective is to reduce the environmental impact of crops grown for animal consumption.

This leaves insect protein some pretty big shoes to fill since an estimated 80 percent of soy produced globally is fed to livestock.

Superior To Soy?

“Insects are more sustainable than soy in many aspects, not only carbon emissions. They require less water, less arable land, and less waste. They’re also a climate-resilient crop, as it is done indoors year-round,” Dror Tamir, CEO of Hargol FoodTech, told The Epoch Times.

Tamir and his fellow insect farmers create nutritional supplements from grasshoppers. The company manufactures a supplement from locusts using vertical farming.

The nutrient-dense powder contains 72 percent complete protein and other essential nutrients, such as omega-3 and omega-6. It also has zinc, folic acid, magnesium, potassium, and vitamins B and E.

Hargol FoodTech at the event SIAL Paris. Courtesy of Hargol FoodTech

“Specifically for Hargol’s locusts, it’s even more humane than farming soy. Growing soy, farmers have to kill all the animals around them: insects, birds, reptiles, lizards, and mammals. They do it using pesticides and traps that are cruel and also contaminate the environment,” Tamir explained.

Tamir says his company’s method of bug farming uses no pesticides, fertilizers, hormones, or antibiotics. As an added bonus, no secondary processing is needed to extract protein from grasshoppers, like soy.

“Even the harvest is done in a humane way,” he said.

Other than grasshoppers and black soldier flies, silkworms, mealworms, and crickets are among the most commonly used bugs in nutritional supplements.

Insect farms have a small carbon footprint, which is a major selling point for climate change advocates. One analysis suggests that insect farming emits 75 percent less carbon and uses half as much water as poultry farms alone.

Despite operational advantages and “green” appeal, Tomberlin says insect protein and soy shouldn’t be rivals.

“One thing I would like to point out is that we should think of the industry, not as a competitor for soy, but how these industries can partner together. ... Collectively, we can provide a balanced diet to supply the livestock, poultry, and aquaculture industries.“

Industry Challenges

As with all game-changing ideas, there are real-world hurdles to navigate. Several obstacles must be overcome for insect farming to hit its forecasted growth projections.

Among these are cost-effectiveness and regulatory infrastructure.

“The main challenges, as we see it, are costs and safety issues,” Tamir said. “The industry is at a relatively early stage of development, and there’s still [a] need to improve production efficiency and reduce costs while competing with one of the most efficient commodity markets.”

In terms of traditional crops, soy is incredibly land and water efficient. It’s also the most cost-effective protein source, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Tamir also says further research on insect protein in regard to safety, digestibility, and health benefits for each animal is needed.

Tomberlin echoed this.

“I think the biggest challenge is this [insect protein] is young. We’re trying to determine how to produce it economically,” he said.

“If you look at the production of soy or other row crops, they can be produced much less expense-wise than insect-based protein.”

Tomberlin concurs with Tamir’s thoughts, saying that the industry needs to develop infrastructure allowing for better production while dealing with contamination prevention, quality control, and digestion issues.

Some research has challenged the boasted protein benefits of certain insects.

An employee of the factory "L'Atelier a pates" empties a basket with some flour of insects (locusts or crickets) to make pasta Jean-Christophe Verhaegen/AFP/Getty Images

A study examining the protein content groups of crickets that were fed five different diets revealed that only the ones eating a grain-based diet—similar to that of chickens—produced comparable protein to poultry.

That brings into question the environmental payoff of feeding insects to animals—or eating them directly—if they need a similar diet as livestock to replicate the protein of regular meat.

One of the cricket study authors, Mark Lundy, wrote, “I think the sustainability claims on this topic have been overstated given the current state of knowledge.”

But for now, the insect protein business is booming.