November 29, 2017

Dutch firm Protix gets financing to upgrade insect production for animal feed

 

Agricultural lender Rabobank has signed a finance contract with Protix, a company that produces insects for animal feed using food scraps from the agricultural sector.

The Netherlands-based insect company is one of the world's front runners of this promising technology, according to Rabobank. The company uses a special insect chain to create feed from food scraps. The insects feed off these food scraps and are then processed sustainably into high-quality proteins for animal feed.

Protein is an essential nutrient of many animal feeds and is often derived from soy beans. Insects have been used as a sustainable alternative to soy bean production, which causes extensive deforestation in producing countries.

Protix set up a commercial factory only after proving that the industrial production of proteins and lipids from insects is viable. 

Protix is to build a new, "green" factory with increased production capacity and with multiple centralised and decentralised production units, with financing from Rarobank.