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To mitigate the effects of climate change and massive resource consumption, drastic solutions and new ways of thinking have to be implemented. Insects could play an integral role in recycling agricultural waste by converting it into valuable proteins instead of merely using this resource for energy. The advantages of insects lays in their low water consumption, small land use and low greenhouse gas emissions during rearing (van Huis, 2013).
From the thousands of insect species, a handful come into question. These animals have to be easily bred, feed on agricultural waste products, favourable regulations and grow fast. As of 2022 yellow mealworms are permitted as feed for aquaculture, poultry and pig feed (Regulation (EU) 2017/893 Annex X) and additional also as novel food for human consumption (Regulation (EU) 2015/2283). The species most suited for cultivation in Europe is the yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor). In addition to the ease of rearing and the uncomplicated life cycle of mealworms, regulations are favourable, no exotic species has to be introduced, and cultivation is already quite commonly practiced.
The efficiency of protein production by mealworms is at the moment comparable with that of chicken (Oonincx, 2012). However, chicken have undergone millennia of domestication to reach that point. There lays a tremendous opportunity to increase efficiency of mealworms by improving their growth performance (Veldkamp, 2022). By selective breeding mealworms, their efficiency could greatly surpass that of chickens. With Insect Hatchery we aspire to provide performance mealworm strains empowering insect farmers to increase yield and further improve sustainability.
We possess different strains of mealworm and hybrids. We are continuously gathering data and improve our strains, which lead to improved yields and increases our customer’s competitive advantage. These strains will be shipped in form of fertile eggs directly to our customers. These eggs can be used to innoculate bulksubstrate and streamline mealworm production.
The benefit to our customers is that our service streamlines and simplifies their production. Furthermore, due to our careful selection, the animals are more homogeneous and have a higher yield.
Conventional production of mealworms begins with egg laying by parent animals. Then the rearing phase takes place. once the larvae have reached the target size, they can be harvested. In the conventional method, however, the producers have to separate a part of the larvae, usually around 10%, and continue to raise them to complete their life cycle. to ensure efficient production, the pupae must be separated from the larvae to prevent them from being eaten. This step is laborious and requires investment in machinery. for completing the life cycle, the pupae have to be incubated, which takes up space and infrastructure from actual production. In addition, the parent animals must be well managed so that an efficient egg production is guaranteed. With the help of Insect Hatchery, production is dramatically simplified. The rearing of the larvae begins with the inoculation of the bulk substrate with fertilized eggs. these then hatch and begin to grow immediately. After reaching commercial size, the entire batch can be harvested. The infrastructure and space of the producers are thus used for larva rearing only and therefore make production much more efficient.
The idea of selecting optimal lineages of mealworms came to us around 2015, during the analysis of existing scientific literature. Insects still have the efficiency of the wild type, however livestock such as poultry and pigs have already experienced thousands of years of domestication. At that time, first experiments were already being made to test the viability. However, it was not until the end of 2021 that the necessary know-how and suitable means were acquired to systematically advance the project. In November 2021, the first colonies of mealworms were collected and the breeding program started.