19. October 2020

Bodeschmiede Follow-Up FarmInsect

Finalist goes into mass production with protein feed from insects

How have the finalists of the Bodenschmiede fared since the end of the ideas competition? FarmInsect’s CEO and co-founder Thomas Kühn joined Farm & Food for an autumn follow-up. His pitch for the production of protein feed from insects from summer 2020 can be seen here (German).

By Sarah Liebigt

Farm & Food: Please introduce yourself and your company.

Thomas Kühn: My name is Thomas Kühn. I am one of the co-founders of Farminsect. FarmInsect enables farmers to sustainably produce their protein feed themselves in the form of insects. We offer automated solutions for this purpose, making it very easy for farmers to produce insects themselves on the farm.

Today, farm animals are fed a lot of soy and fishmeal. We have said that in order to make this more sustainable, for a closed loop economy and less CO2 emissions, insects are a solution.

How are you and the team doing, what is the status quo at FarmInsect?

We are doing very well at the moment. We recently put the first pilot plant into operation at one of the largest fish farmers in Bavaria and are in the process of setting up series production for next year. Furthermore we are in talks with farmers who want to acquire the first serial plants.

What has changed for you since the Bodenschmiede, have you been able to take advantage of the event and its scope?
For us the Bodenschmiede has gone well. Afterwards, we received inquiries from both the agricultural sector and other areas. In terms of visibility, the Bodenschmiede was very helpful for us.

What difficulties did you encounter?

There are of course obstacles when you start up a new plant. It takes a little time until everything works as it should. Some of our suppliers have had delivery problems due to Corona. All in all, these are challenging times, but I think we have come through them quite well so far.

What will the next twelve months look like for FarmInsect?

Next year we want to bring five systems into the field, which we are already using productively. That is our goal and for that we are looking for investments for our next round and are now looking for one million euros by the end of the year.