Australian insect producer inks feed deal with Skretting
The aqua feed major is partnering with Australian insect producer, Goterra. Skretting, which has been present in Australia for 30 years, will explore how to validate insect meal from the startup in local aquaculture species.
Rhys Hauler, marketing manager, Skretting Australia, confirmed that desktop analysis indicates Goterra’s Black soldier fly (BSF) derived protein offers immense potential as a component in its feeds.
Olympia Yarger, CEO of Goterra, said that collaborating with offtake customers like Skretting contributes towards their ambitious ESG targets while also closing the loop of a circular value chain.
Goterra has created a modular waste management infrastructure to farm BSF larvae at the site where waste is produced. Larvae inside the units convert food waste to protein and fertilizer in 12 days. The units are capable of processing five tons of waste per day.
The startup began working with Australian supermarket chain, Woolworths, in 2020 to manage food waste produced by its stores in Canberra. That waste is deemed to be not fit to be donated to food banks or to be used for animal feed.
Helping insect producers scale
Given that 95% of the feed footprint originates from raw materials, Skretting maintains that collaboration along such lines is essential for industry-wide change. Without the development and validation of new raw materials, aquaculture simply cannot grow in line with forecast demand, it says.
In January this year, Skretting signed a deal with Finnish insect ingredient producer, Volare. The aqua feed company committed to buying a “substantial” volume of products from Volare’s first commercial scale BSF factory, which it will start building in Finland this year.
Skretting and Volare envision this engagement as the initial step in a long-term partnership.
Jarna Hyvönen, Volare’s chief operating officer (COO), outlined back then how securing the offtake deal was a gradual process that involved extensive dialogue with key stakeholders at Skretting.
Volare's efforts included presenting product samples from its demonstration factory, and in September of last year, the startup paid a visit to Skretting Norway. Given Skretting's stringent supplier validation standards, the COO said Volare dedicated considerable effort to reassuring the Nutreco business of its capability to meet and exceed its criteria, not only at its demonstration unit but also at the forthcoming large-scale facility.
Shrimp feed consortium
Collaboration across the value chain is the most effective way to promote sustainable transformation, according to numerous industry commentators.
In 2023, Skretting participated in an Albert Heijn backed sustainable shrimp feed consortium.
Shrimp processor, Klaas Puul, teamed up with the feed producer alongside insect protein supplier, Protix, and algal oil producer, Veramaris, to supply supermarkets across Europe with shrimp fed feed with a lower marine ingredient inclusion. Skretting produced a shrimp feed whereby fishmeal was partially replaced by Protix’s BSF derived meal, and whereby fish oil was partially substituted by Veramaris’s MSC/ASC-certified algae oil.
