Ben Levings
Acadia University
Kent Williams
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Oberland Agriscience is a company that harvests black soldier flies into larvae for agricultural purposes. They are an input for current crop systems we have in place to feed our farm animals and fish. The harvested larvae can also serve as fertilizer.
The product of this work is high protein nourishment that can be used in feed for livestock, aquaculture, or even be used as fertilizer. The alternative to this is to feed the animals corn or other low-nutrient feed, which makes the meat industry less sustainable in terms of the amount of feed wasted for the meat you get in return.
Oberland Agriscience harvests the soldier flies by encouraging the adult flies to mate using a series of lights. The adult flies lay their eggs into crevices, and Oberland Agriscience collects the eggs in one area. The eggs will hatch into larvae that are less than a millimeter long. Over the next 10 days, the larvae will grow 8,000 times their size. Once these larvae reach this stage, they are killed and ground into a powder. The resulting larvae powder made from grinding up the insects is 55% protein by weight, which shows the effectiveness of this process.
The product of this work is high-protein nourishment that can be used to feed farm animals and/or fish or can be used as fertilizer. The alternative is to feed the animals corn or other low-nutrient feed, which makes the meat industry less sustainable in terms of the amount of feed wasted for the meat you get in return.
On top of the sustainable farming methods that Oberland Agriscience uses, they committed to using 100% renewable energy for their most recent facility. This comprises 50% solar energy and hiring a contractor to utilize wind power for the remaining 50%.
My interview was with Greg Wanger, the CEO and Founder of Oberland Agriscience. He stated during the interview that he always had the idea of using some sort of insect as a reproducible, high-protein feed. He even considered using crickets alongside black soldier flies. The issue with crickets is that they are more complicated to feed, which causes issues with the replicability of the project.
As someone who is involved in an up-and-coming business, Greg noticed a trend that newer businesses tend to be more eco-friendly. Oberland Agriscience contributes to this trend as well. While part of Greg's drive to use the soldier ants to produce feed is driven by concerns with food insecurity, he does not aspire to completely change the way our current system functions. Instead, he hopes to improve alongside it by using a more renewable process.
The long-term impact of this innovation has yet to be realized, as it is a more recent company. Considering how rare its particular vision is, its success has the potential to start a trend in more self-sustaining feed businesses like this.
In the short term, Greg has been able to expand his business. He has been working with salmon farmers in the area as well as individuals who want to buy the soldier flies to feed their pets. The impact of his feed being used means that the salmon that we will eventually be eating are being fed with more nutritious inputs.
In addition to the impact of Greg's innovation, Oberland Agriscience employs many people at a livable wage. Greg also considers this livable employment to be a major pillar of sustainable business practices.
It's impossible to separate the innovation from the business, as they are one and the same. The company can produce a large quantity of fertilizer, food, and insects for a considerably low "cost". In an interview, Greg stated that a 10,000 square-meter facility would be able to produce as much as feed as 2,300 hectares of corn.
They can do all of this while having the lowest carbon footprint of any other protein producer. This shows their innovation extends past their product. Furthermore, they are completely getting off of the Nova Scotia power grid by embracing renewable resources for their most recent facility.
This innovation benefits society at its source - our food supply. Food insecurity is increasingly concerning, and the quantity of crops that are consumed by animals makes the meat industry one of the biggest producers of carbon emissions. By making sure that we are increasing sustainable food systems, we also improve our carbon footprint.
In our interview, Greg informed me that 5-10 million tons of insects would be needed to help the global demand for protein; however, we are currently only producing 5-10 thousand tons. So, there is a lot of room for growth for Oberland Agriscience and in this sector in general.
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Greg Wagner, Founder and CEO
