The Business

New Technologies Allows Bio-conversion

The BugsLife Srl is an innovative startup born from the idea of two young entrepreneurs newly graduated at the Wageningen University (Netherlands, EU). Located among the suggestive Umbrian hills, closeby Assisi, the BugsLife shares its headquarter with an established family-owned farm, the Iraci Borgia Farm, which is known for its top efficiency in the biogas production from the recycling of agricultural byproducts.

The Future

Through a harmonized fashion, exploiting innovative proprietary technologies, the BugsLife aims to connect different sectors of the agricultural, zootechnical and industrial ecosystem. Our processes catalyze the rise of a circular production chain which ultimately induce local economic growth and the creation of new products. This goal is pursued through the large-scale application of an innovative concept: the insect bioconversion.

”The Sustainable Production Of Proteins Is One Of The Most Urgent Issues That Need To Be Addressed At A Global Level. The BugsLife Is In The Front Line Of These Modern Challenges That Will Shape Our Renewable Future.

BugsLife CEO

Biogas Plants

In Italy there are more than 1500 biogas plants. The business is considered a strategic energy sector for the country as it has 1200 MegaWatt installed power and can provide a 14% annual need for natural gas. These biogas plants clear out a considerable amount of organic byproducts.
Yet not all the organic byproducts carry the same values.
As a matter of fact, there are agricultural byproducts that still carry an substantial amount of valuable nutrients. To date, these HIGH-valued byproducts are simply mixed with LOW-valued byproducts and hence cleared out in the biogas plant. Even though the use of HIGH-valued byproducts as feed for livestock could be possible, it is often complicated and therefore most of the times it’s not economically viable.
And it’s right here, that our honourable partner comes is.

Bioconversion

Thanks to our BugsLife technologies, can we now dignify the purpose of high-valued organic byproducts. Feeding our larvae with these byproducts, we are able to (bio)convert a wide range of organic byproducts into value-added protein products.
In fact, at the BugsLife we nourish the Black Soldier Fly larvae with a feed composed of a mix of several agricultural high-quality byproducts, as for example: olive pomace from the production of olive oil; brewer’s yeast and draff from the production of beer.
While feeding, the Black Soldier Fly larvae efficiently recover most of the proteins and nutrients that are provided. The larvae hence concentrate these valuable compounds into body mass which happens to perfectly match the natural profile of animal nutritional requirements. Dogs, cats, fishes, hens, reptiles and many more are all eligible to be fed insect parts.

Little Big Partner

The Black Soldier Fly

The Black Soldier Fly This paradigm and technology shift, toward a more circular (thus sustainable) agriculture, wouldn’t have been possible without a special partner equipped with superpowers: the Black Soldier Fly. This little Diptera has origin in Central America, yet nowadays it’s present worldwide. Although in its larval stage the Black Soldier Fly larvae are voracious eaters, the adult form of the fly is completely harmless. The unique aim of the adults is to find a partner, lovingly dance in the hottest hour of the day so that to perform the wedding flight, and finally lay the eggs that would propagate the following generation. In fact, the Black Soldier Fly uniquely rely upon the nutrient stockpiles that were accumulated during nonstop feeding of its larval stage.

The Black Soldier Fly Is An Extremely Safe Species To Be Mass Reared

In fact:
- It does not sting
- It does not feed upon crops
- It does not transmit diseases either to men or to livestock or other animals.
Furthermore, the Black Soldier Fly presents a relatively short life cycle and a high reproductive rate: both of these features are extremely important for large scale production. Mixing all these terrific characteristics with our engineering solutions made by the BugLife team, we achieved a complete recipe for the production of healthy and sustainable proteins at scale.

Circular Economy And The Sources Of Sustainable Proteins

Currently, the food (and feed) production chain has rightly been put under growing pressure due to the need for lowering the carbon footprint of the agricultural practices . Yet, at the same time, it is asked to increase the production outputs in view of a growing global population . However, due to the land desertification spread and the agriculture practices having reached them maximum coverage and exploitation of arable lands, every further increase would imply substantial costs to the ecosystem and to the surrounding inhabitants, which ultimately would translate in steadily increasing costs of living.

To Produce More, It’s Not Necessary To Produce More!

A simple way to produce more (without the burden to produce more) would be to improve the management of the available resources. This goal may be achieved through: optimization of the processes, shortening the production chain, minimizing the losses, and whether losses are unavoidable, it becomes necessary to (bio)convert these streams into valuable goods. Let’s just put into perspective: a third of the food that is produced is actually going to waste without being consumed. Nonetheless, even if the agricultural practices are properly conducted, often times the co-generation of byproducts is just unavoidable. The bioconversion capabilities of the insect rearing practices may be a coherent method to efficiently recover these valuable nutrients.

The Pet Food Sector Take Away A Large Slice Of The Total Food And Feed Production

In the pet food sector, it has been spreading the notion that it is indeed correct to feed our pets with a feed that is mainly composed of human-grade ingredients. At the same time, they try to distract you from the evidence of facts that although we are falling short of nutrients, you keep feeding your pet with over-qualified feeds that as a matter of facts will never be available for more the 2 billion people in the world. In an opposite fashion, all the products that contain insect proteins are at the same time: 100% as healthy as the conventional feed, 100% as desirable and satisfying, they require fewer resources to be made, and are hence more sustainable, fair and ultimately a better choice.

The Role And The Influence Of The Modern Customers

In Europe, there are more than 130 million dogs and cats have to be fed daily in a healthy and balanced way. Then there are fishes, birds and little reptiles which brings the total count to more than the triple. In fact, the pet food sector (that is the part of the food production chain meant for the production of feed for hour domestic pets) is in steady growth.
The path that this market will cover, that is toward products that would be more or less sustainable, will be determined by the choices of you, the customers.