From April 2021 onwards, the ValuSect project does not only support the development of insects for food, but also extends its research and knowledge transfer to feed. An additional vouchers call for feed will be launched at the end of 2021, offering the opportunity to SMEs in the insects as feed sector to also boost their business.
Launched in December 2019, the ValuSect project has been working so far on insect-based food, studying crickets, grasshoppers and yellow mealworms. In January 2021, the consortium applied for the Interreg North-West Europe call for capitalisation[1], seeing an opportunity to transfer the acquired knowledge to insects as feed, which is a very promising sector. The project will also include the black soldier fly species (Hermetia Illucens) to its scope for its high potential for the feed sector.
As part of this extension, ValuSect will launch a vouchers call at the end of 2021, proposing services to applicants willing to develop their insects as feed business for a total of 300.000€. SMEs will be invited to apply to get services worth €10k, €20k or €40k from ValuSect partners in order to, for example, optimise insect breeding condition, insect composition or insect feed processing. 20 cases will be selected.
In order to support this new topic, the consortium welcomes 3 new partners who have expertise and a great network in the insects as feed sector: DGfZ, the German Society of Animal Production (Germany) as full partner; the CCPA Groupe (France) and The Belgian Feed Association (Belgium) as associated partners.
The global insect feed market was estimated at €133 million in 2020 and is expected to reach €736.7 million by the end of 2026[2]. ValuSect will be glad to bring its contribution to the knowledge around insects as feed.
[1] The Interreg NWE capitalisation call “Maximising project impact” targets existing project partnerships which have a solid ground for additional activities and where continuation of cooperation brings significant added value.
[2] Global Insect Feed Market Research Report 2020