AdalbaPro, our functional, nutritious, and sustainable ingredient line helps to reduce our global footprint. Global warming, land occupation, non-renewable vs. renewable energy and water use are all topics of high concern at Ÿnsect and we are committed to constantly improving our environmental impact.
Global warming
At Ynsect we believe that reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is critical to control global warming and climate change. That’s why we’re so enthusiastic about making insects the meat of the future – compared to poultry, pork, and beef our lesser mealworms produce a tiny fraction of the GHG emissions. Our commitment to GHG reduction doesn’t just stop at direct emissions from our farm but extends to the entire supply chain. Our Alphitobius diaperinus are excellent at converting side-streams from other industries into high quality nutrition.
Land occupation
Land occupation is divided into the actual use of land for rearing insects and the land which is being exploited for the production of feed. At Ÿnsect we use very little land because our vertical farming method enables us to stack buffalo mealworms in layers, maximizing our productivity per square meter.
Additionally, we utilize a high proportion of food side streams as feed for our insects. These side streams include things like wheat middlings, nutritious leftovers from flour production that aren’t suitable for use in food. Using such side streams allows us to produce high quality nutrition with a tiny footprint compared to using direct feeds like wheat, soy, and corn which are commonly used to raise livestock like cows and pigs.
Non-renewable energy vs. renewable energy
Since insects are cold blooded animals, a higher environmental temperature is needed to maintain optimal growth. Consequently, compared to poultry and pork, energy use in insect rearing systems is somewhat higher. At Ynsect we’re on a mission towards 100% renewable energy. We’re constantly innovating to recycle energy and improve our farm’s efficiency and we soon hope to operate completely on renewable energy.
Water use
Compared to conventional livestock or even many plant-based protein sources, our buffalo mealworm require a tiny amount of water to grow. That’s because the Alphitobius diaperinus prefer to stay dry through their lifecycle consuming only the water they need for hydration. As they produce much less waste than conventional livestock our farm consumes a fraction of the water of a cattle or pig farm. We’re constantly looking at how we can further reduce our water footprint and become more efficient with this precious resource.
As you can see below, fresh insect production has a dramatically lower general environmental impact compared to other traditional animal protein sources. The table shows the comparison between the Alphitobius diaperinus, poultry, pork and beef on the above elements. The Alphitobius diaperinus scores best on global warming and water use. Ÿnsect is continuously working to further optimize the rearing processes which will result in an even more improved environmental impact.
