Feed & Additive Magazine Issue 2 March 2021

SPECIAL STORY FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE March 2021 55 their genetics via selective breeding programmes, often through partnerships with animal breeding companies such as Hendrix Genetics. The approach is particularly appealing because the short life-cycles of insects make them well suited to selective breeding. When starting with wild species selective breeding can remarkable ef- fective, in aquaculture for example a weight gain in- crease of 30% per generation has been observed. INVESTMENT IN THE INDUSTRY In a recent webinar hosted by F3 Meeting the major players in the insect industry discussed recent devel- opments, plans and challenges to the sector. It’s clear from the number of recent funding rounds that inves- tor interest has not slowed down, with nearly $1Bn flowing into the sector in the last five years. This has been largely channeled into the European players, however as the sector develops it’s likely that more funding will become available, particularly in Asia, where the appetite for AgTech investments is being led by nation states keen to develop domestic food secu- rity. This trend is further reinforced by the enormous growth in ESG Funds which is forecast to continue, with some analysts predicting that ESG funds will out- number conventional funds as early as 2025. With this explosion in funds there will be a race to find suitable opportunities which demonstrate both traction plus huge growth potential, of which insect meal has both. EXPECTATIONS FOR THE INDUSTRY’S FUTURE The overwhelming expectation across both the in- sect- and the feed-industry, is that the price of insect meal must come down to parity with the price of fish- meal to genuinely have a chance of playing a major role in the feed system. Whilst this may be some time for insect meal produced in Europe, where pricing is around EUR 3,500 - 5,500 per ton, Asian manufactur- ers have predicted meeting the fishmeal price within 3 years - a milestone that will change the way we feed our livestock. This price-drop is likely to come about due in part to increasing production scale, but also to po- tentially massive steps forward in technology develop- ment. For an industry that is - at most - 10 years old, the potential for rapid progress is significant. Increas- ing understanding of insect behaviour, IoT technolo- gies and AI data applications will all play their part, as will the increased focus on genetics programmes being implemented around the world. About Nick Piggott Nutrition Technologies is Asia’s leading insect-manufacturer, operating an industrial-scale facility in southern Malaysia. Producing Black Soldier Fly-based feed and agriculture ingredients for the aqua, pet- and livestock industries, the company’s mission is to support the sustainable growth of the global food system. Previous to setting-up Nutrition Technologies Nick worked in international development, and during his role at the UN in West Africa he became acutely aware of the looming protein gap facing the livestock industry, and thus future food security. Identifying insects as a sustainable solution to the challenge, he co-founded the company with his UN colleague Tom Berry in 2015. Developing the company’s technology in Vietnam, they moved the business to Malaysia in 2018 and raised a round of Series A investment in 2019. Nick has a BSc in Life Sciences, and has always had a strong interest in entrepreneurship and innovation. He moved to Vietnam in 2015 to form Nutrition Technologies, winning the Asia stream of the Fish2.0 competition in San Francisco in 2017 and the Tech 4 Farmers competition in Bangkok in 2018.