The 'Fly-Ing Dutchman' at Victam 2023

On 3-5 October Bob Holtermans 'The Fly- Ing Dutchman' and CEO of Insect Engineers will be attending the Victam 2023 Animal feed processing event in San Paolo, Brazil.

During the show he will be available to talk about the future of insect farming in Latin America and sharing some information about the project we developed with Natpro in Chile. Natpro worked with Insect engineers to build the first 'shelf based' pilot insect farm of its kind in Latin America. Started in 2021 and Operational in 2022.

The pilot consists of one fully equipped commercial room, handling 2000 tons of waste per year.

• Building – a 34 x 7-meter room loaded with 7-layer high Zoom racks capable of handling 50 tons of waste per cycle.
• The room is Climatized using chilling and heating.
• The racks make use of a Zoom filler that allows flexible feeding during the growing cycle.
• The flexi-floor is easy to maintain end of each cycle with the washer making short work of the cleaning process.

Natpro is part of a company group called Patagonia Wings, dedicated mainly to produce Salmon Smolts in land based piscicultures. Natpro is dedicated to the production of black soldier fly since 2013 focused on the circular economy of feed. Based in Chile their system reintegrates nutrients into production cycles, giving new life to organic waste, currently disposed of in landfills.. By using residual organic matter as raw material, they help reduce food waste. In return, industries that work with them reduce their environmental impact, incorporating a circular economy into their production chain. Either by delivering their organic waste for bioconversion, or through the use of NatPro products for feeding. Their industrial plant is located in Calbuco, Los Lagos region, is in its testing period and will have the capacity to produce more than 1,200 tons of insect flour and over 500 tons of insect oil per year.

Customer interview.

• What is the reason you started growing BSF? - we started by focusing on the current problem of the large amount of nutrients lost in landfills. We believed it was possible to recover them, producing in a better 'circular' way.
• Why did you choose for Insect Engineers / what is your experience with Insect Engineers? - we chose Insect Engineers because they offer the right solution for our production process, backed by their experience within insects and agriculture production.
• Why did you choose for the ZOEM rack system instead of trays? - the ZOEM racks make more sense for us because we believe it's easier and more cost effective to scale up our production than using trays.
• What is your general advice to a future grower? - we would advise new growers to first run a pilot stage to try everything out. It takes time and trial/error to get good results. As we work in an industry with multiple production processes, it is important to focus on the main ones and keep them as simple as possible.

For more information about Natpro, the Insect school and our turnkey solution:

• Natpro Profeed Insect Meal - https://natpro.cl/en/our-brands/
• SAG authorizes the commercialisation of insect based products - https://natpro.cl/en/sag-authorizes-the-commercialization-of-insect-based-products/
• If you want to learn more about insect farming. Courses available at the Insect school - https://www.insectschool.com/
• Turnkey Insect farming - https://www.insectengineers.com/

If you are visiting Victam, please take time to meet with Bob on the Insect engineers stand 10007. https://victamlatam.com/Portals/13/VI-latam/floorplan/Floorplan 13-09-2023.png?ver=o4iz4rFZ-W8MsRJgI4vizg%3D%3D