QUEBEC — A Drummondville company is turning insects into animal feed — black soldier fly larvae raised on food waste — and it’s expanding.
Entosystem Inc.’s waste-recycling concept has just won a federal grant of up to $6-million for a new facility that will dramatically increase production of its fly feed and fertilizer.
By 2024, the company expects to transform 250 tonnes of organic waste daily, up from the current rate of 6 tonnes per day. The government likes the environmental benefits.
Every year, over half of Canada’s food supply is wasted, and nearly $50 billion of that wastage is avoidable, according to Agriculture and Agri-food Canada.
“The use of insects to speed up the process of composting food waste is a promising solution for the environment,” Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said. “By recovering products intended for landfill, Entosystem creates value-added products, generates a zero-waste circular economy and contributes to the achievement of our climate targets.”
The resulting fertilizers and alternative proteins for animal feed are essential to agriculture, the minister said.
The funding recipient has worked since 2016 to grow and harvest insects as a food source for animals, including pets and livestock. The money is flowing through the AgriInnovate Program, part of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
