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As strange as it sounds, Dean Smorenburg started farming with black soldier flies in his bathroom in 2016, and now the entrepreneur is exporting his ‘animal protein’ to the EU and US.

With a background in management consulting, Smorenburg always had a passion for sustainability, particularly in reducing the amount of food wasted.

His work-related travels across the world exposed him to different technologies and business models, and in 2016 he started his unlikely business by farming black soldier flies in his bathroom.

Black soldier flies have proven to be useful in helping to deal with food waste, which ultimately releases methane – a greenhouse gas that causes climate change. These flies can feed on food waste and break it down into a byproduct that is rich in protein and fats. Perfect for animal feed.

“They are not pests, nor do they carry diseases like house flies.”

The business has a facility in Epping (about 5 000 square metres) and employs about 60 people who farm with the black soldier flies in controlled environments.

“We have a dietician who balances the diet of the insects,” he explains.

It takes about seven days to harvest the flies and the end result is separated into two products. The first is dehydrated insects – this is a dried-down black soldier fly larvae or “grubbies” that can be sold as feed for chickens or wild birds. These are especially popular in the US where most people have chickens.

The second product is the dried-out insect that is ground into a powder that can be used as a protein or oil source in pet food. They have recently partnered with Montego – a pet food producer founded in Graaff-Reinet, in the Eastern Cape – providing its black soldier fly protein product for dog food.

The protein is hypoallergenic – unlikely to cause an allergic reaction in animals. It is also helpful for the animal’s gut health.

Smorenburg said that a life cycle analysis is still to be done to measure the environmental impacts of this process. But largely, the business helps to divert significant amounts of organic waste from “less efficient destinies” like landfills where they would release emissions.

The black soldier flies are farmed in containers that are stacked on top of each other – which means the yield per square meter is 14 times higher. “Every week we get a new harvest… We get 52 harvests in a year, or 14 times the amount of land that we sit on.”

The process also uses little water because most of it is absorbed from the food waste. Employing people in surrounding communities, the entrepreneur hopes to open similar facilities in other parts of the country.

 

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It takes a special kind of person to see an opportunity in flies. South Africa definitely has some of the world’s most ingenious entrepreneurs.

[source:news24]