Insects on our plates. A few years ago, we were told about a revolution in our diet. Since 2008, the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) has encouraged the consumption of insects, a virtuous source of protein, to reconcile an increase in the world population and preservation of the environment. There is a niche market today.
Brands like Jimini’s sell whole insects in France, a bold alternative to sausage or peanuts as an aperitif. But it is clear that no flock of crickets has come to colonize our Sunday meals, despite the green light from the European Union for human consumption of a few insects. “In Europe, no one really believes in the human consumption of insects anymore because of the lack of interest from consumers and the arrival of new alternative proteins,” observes Matthieu Vincent, co-founder of the DigitalFoodLab firm.
Fish, poultry, pigs
However, France is indeed a world champion in the breeding of insects, but intended for… animal consumption. The first to launch in France was Cédric Auriol. In 2011, this entrepreneur founded Agronutris to “respond to strong environmental challenges and create jobs in France”. He first worked on human consumption before turning to animals, just like Ynsect, founded the same year. Then came Innovafeed, in 2016.
The three French players, whose factories are less than 200 km apart, between the Somme and the Ardennes, mainly target a very demanding market: aquaculture. “It requires very large volumes of proteins,” explains Cédric Auriol, whose flours are mainly shipped to salmon farms in Northern Europe. “Feeding fish with insect meal allows us to avoid mill fishing or importing soy,” adds Clément Ray, co-founder of Innovafeed. The products that leave factories are also used to feed pets, poultry and pigs.
Agronutris and Innovafeed chose to breed black soldier flies, while Ynsect preferred the Molitor beetle, whose larva is nicknamed “mealworm”. A choice which, according to industry experts, partly explains the difficulties of Ynsect, which announced at the end of September its placement under safeguard procedure. Despite raising $600 million in funds since its creation from investors, including BPI France, the company is faced with the difficulty of industrial deployment of what was to be “the largest vertical farm in the world”.
Rise to power
While fearing that the misadventures of their competitor will slow down future investments in agritech, or more generally in industrial start-ups, Agronutris and Innovafeed have successfully passed the difficult milestone of setting up industrial procedures. While the factories in Rethel for Agronutris and Nesle for Innovafeed are gradually ramping up, the two companies are continuing their development. Agronutris plans to build a second site next to the first to triple its production capacity.
As for Innovafeed, it has already inaugurated a factory in the United States. “The markets are there. But to serve them, we have to produce more,” insist Clément Ray and Cédric Auriol. And if Clément Ray never had the idea of feeding humans with his proteins, Cédric Auriol has not completely abandoned the idea. “The companies that will be winners in the animal market will be winners in the human food market in the future,” he hopes. In the insect market, the race has only just begun.
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