Insects are attracting more and more interest and investment as a new and exciting way in the circular food chain. Wageningen University & Research supports this interest with knowledge through its Summer School Insects as Food and Feed. In this summer school, anyone interested in the topic can discover the challenges and opportunities of rearing insects for sustainable consumption and animal feed, and learn about the optimal production design and facilities needed to farm and process insect protein.
More resources are needed to feed the growing world population, but the world’s resources are limited. Moreover, the negative environmental impacts of our current methods of both plant and animal food production increase the pressure on these limited resources. This problem has led people to turn to sustainable alternative sources and to look a little closer at insects. Prof. Dr. Ir. Arnold van Huis from Wageningen University & Research comments on this situation as follows: “The realization that insects can be used either for human consumption or for animal feed in the Western world is very recent. Insects in the tropics have been harvested from nature and consumed already for a very long time. This was erroneously considered by westerners as a primitive habit. It is now recognized that insects are very nutritious, safe to eat and can be produced with much lower environmental impact than our common meat products.”
However, for insects to be a truly sustainable alternative, industrial-scale production and the training of people who will do it are needed. The opening of a summer school on insects at Wageningen University addresses this need. Prof. van Huis, who spearheaded the Summer School on Insects as Food and Feed, explains the need for education and the driving force behind the idea to organize a summer school as follows: “To exploit this food source, we need to rear them in large quantities. It was in 2014 that we published the FAO report ‘Edible insects, future prospects for food and feed security’. The book was downloaded millions of times and triggered interest worldwide. Being the main author of this publication, I thought about how to spread the message about this new food and feed source. Ten years ago, the knowledge of how to rear and process insects was rudimentary as well as the knowledge about environmental impact, nutrition, food safety, consumer attitudes, marketing, etc. These gaps have been and are filled by the academic world. The last ten years the number of scientific publications on these issues increased exponentially. So, the idea of organizing this summer school was to provide the newest developments to participants by inviting the best experts from around the world.”
Prof. Arnold van Huis also emphasizes, “After publishing the FAO book, we never expected that the issue would be embraced by so many around the world.”
THE GROWTH OF THE MARKET MAY REACH 100 BILLION USD IN A DECADE
One of the key reasons why insects are seen as a good alternative is their environmental impact, as Prof. van Huis points out. This issue, which is extremely important in today’s world, combined with the other important aspects of insects, has led to an increase in the number of investors in this field and continues to do so. “Insects in comparison to livestock, can be produced with less emissions of greenhouse gas and ammonia, while much less water and land is required. Besides, several insect species can be reared on organic side streams, important if you consider that one third of our agricultural produce and food is wasted,” says van Huis. “In this way insect production for food and feed can contribute to a circular economy. Only in Europe more than 1.5 billion euros have been invested in the sector and the growth of the market may reach 100 billion US$ in a decade.”
WHAT TOPICS DOES THE TRAINING COVER?
Wageningen University & Research also supports this rapidly growing market with education through a summer school led by Prof. Dr. van Huis. In this summer school, anyone interested in the topic can discover the challenges and opportunities of rearing insects for sustainable consumption and animal feed, and learn about the optimal production design and facilities needed to farm and process insect protein. Prof. Dr. Ir. Arnold van Huis shares the following details about the scope of the training: “All issues from producing to consuming edible insects will be treated: automation of rearing, processing, environmental impact, nutrition, food safety, legislation, marketing, and consumer attitudes. We organize one day a trip to Belgium where participants will visit an insect facility and they will see and hear firsthand about insect production and processing. We expect the participants after the course to have a general knowledge of the whole field of insects as food and feed.”
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE
In principle, everybody can participate in the training. “What we see is that attending people are from the edible insect industry, academics, but also people from governmental bodies such as food safety agencies, and people who are just interested and may engage in edible insects in the future,” adds van Huis.
The training, which was also organized once online only during COVID, is now in person. This year’s training will be organized between July 1-5, 2024. People, who want to participate in the one week training, must register through Wageningen Academy. If there is enough interest, these trainings are planned to continue as the summer school each year.
Prof. van Huis invites those who want to learn more about insects for feed and food to this training: “We welcome everybody to this exciting and fast-developing field.”
About Prof. Dr. Ir. Arnold van Huis
Prof. Dr. Ir. Arnold van Huis worked from 1974 to 1979 in Nicaragua. He got his PhD from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. From 1982 to 1985 he coordinated a crop protection training project for eight Sahelian countries. From 1985 to 2015 he worked as tropical entomologist at Wageningen University. Since 2015 he is emeritus professor and concentrates on insects as food and feed. In 2013 he published with FAO the book Edible insects: future prospects for food and feed security which has been downloaded millions of times. In 2014 he organised with FAO the conference Insects to feed the world, attended by 450 participants from 45 countries. He is chief editor of the Journal of Insects as Food and Feed. He published more than 300 papers of which 170 refereed. On edible insects, he (co)authored several books, 15 book chapters, and 35 refereed and 40 non-refereed publications. Each year he gives presentations in and outside the Netherlands on insects as food and feed.
