EVO Expanding Opportunities Globally- Welcome Inagro!

Part of EVO's mission is to open doors to expand the global knowledge-base on the use of insects as food and feed. We believe such a mission is achieved through collaborating and facilitating research and application opportunities. One such opportunity came through collaborations with Inagro in Belgium to test lights for their ability to enhance BSF breeding indoors. 

Inagro is a Belgian non-profit organization for applied research and advice in horti- and agriculture. Inagro’s researchers guide farmers/companies/government  into a more sustainable and innovative future. Currently we have more than 200 employees in a variety of research area’s such as: greenhouse cultivation, field vegetables, edible mushrooms, biogas production, circular economy, aquaculture, insect rearing, etc.
In the department for aquaculture and insect rearing, five people are employed involved with the insect research: 

Stefan Teerlinck:           Head of the department and expert in aquaculture 
Dr. David Deruytter:     Researcher, specialized in black soldier fly
Ir. Carl Coudron:           Researcher, specialized in mealworms 
Ir. Jonas Claeys:              Project hunter/writer 
Lukas Depraetere:         Technical assistant 

Our insect pilot plant is approximately 300 m² with a laboratory, processing room and 6 climate controlled rooms with a combined area of ± 150 m². Currently we are breeding three insect species (BSF, mealworm and the Argentinian cockroach) and focus our research on:

• the automation and optimization of insect rearing (currently BSF and mealworms) including housing, lights, feed, temperature,…
• the use of agricultural waste streams as feed for the insects, 
• integration of insectproduction in different agricultural sectors e.g. biogas and aquaponics,
• pest species, diseases and the use of probiotics.

Besides research we are in close contact with the Belgian and European insect industry and government via the strategic platform for insects (Belgium) and IPIFF (Europe). Finally, we inform the general public, feed manufacturers, investors and (starting) companies about the possibilities of insect production with onsite demonstrations, tours, internships and by demonstrating techniques within the insect production. The latter, for example, has already been done (and will continue to do) for the JM Green breeding LED (https://www.evoconsys.com/blog/comparing-jm-green-breeding-led-with-halogen-lamps).

Inagro is thrilled to be part of the EVO consortium and to further work on the industrial application of BSF to reduce agricultural waste and increase the protein production. As an applied research center, we are open for suggestions from the industry to tackle specific problems.
A visual impression of our pilot plant (https://youtu.be/8WzFKFn-1OM) or our black soldier fly larvae (https://youtu.be/5o5Xr2YRLRQ).  

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Author

Jeffery K. Tomberlin, PhD, Facilitator
Director, EVO Conversion Systems, LLC
Twitter: @FliesFacility