Carbon neutral eggs fed on insects

[JP1]

Morrisons launches line of 'carbon neutral eggs' from hens fed on insects reared on company's own food waste

The eggs are the first product to be sold as part of the supermarket chain's drive to be directly supplied by zero emission British farms by 2020.

news.sky.com

 

[Jimdog1]

Morrisons launches line of 'carbon neutral eggs' from hens fed on insects reared on company's own food waste

The eggs are the first product to be sold as part of the supermarket chain's drive to be directly supplied by zero emission British farms by 2020.

news.sky.com

Really interesting. The Better Origin unit is built into a shipping container and I think you just keep topped up with feedstock and harvest the Larvae daily. I'm surprised that they are getting enough Larvae to replace soya as protein or maybe I misunderstood.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

Discussed on Farming Today this am.

 

[JP1]

Discussed on Farming Today this am.

Ah. Missed that. I was at the office at 530 to get ahead with some work.

 

[ladycrofter]

We looked at mealworms many years ago with the SAC but no one was interested back then, too "icky". Did some research, maggots are basically pure protein and fat. Bit of a marketing challenge though

 

[ollie989898]

'You are what you eat'. I think I still prefer the idea of chickens free ranging and eating a bit of whatever they want to, corn and layers mash thanks.

 

[SteveHants]

'You are what you eat'. I think I still prefer the idea of chickens free ranging and eating a bit of whatever they want to, corn and layers mash thanks.

Do you not think that the protein component in layers pellets/mash would be a lot better/natural being insect derived than soya derived?

 

[SteveHants]

Really interesting. The Better Origin unit is built into a shipping container and I think you just keep topped up with feedstock and harvest the Larvae daily. I'm surprised that they are getting enough Larvae to replace soya as protein or maybe I misunderstood.

I thought they had abandoned this because eggs might go up 3p/doz or similar. I guess with input prices the way they are, a rethink has been had, which is no bad thing.

 

[Daniel]

Really interesting. The Better Origin unit is built into a shipping container and I think you just keep topped up with feedstock and harvest the Larvae daily. I'm surprised that they are getting enough Larvae to replace soya as protein or maybe I misunderstood.

As I understand it, the better origin shipping container produces a few tons of insects a year which then have to be scattered around on the floor of the chicken shed, as it’s not legal to add them directly to the feed.

There’s a lot of marketing spin gone into it and I’ll bet they still aren’t paying the farmer properly.

 

[SteveHants]

As I understand it, the better origin shipping container produces a few tons of insects a year which then have to be scattered around on the floor of the chicken shed, as it’s not legal to add them directly to the feed.

There’s a lot of marketing spin gone into it and I’ll bet they still aren’t paying the farmer properly.

I think its a good idea, and might pave the way for bigger units who then process insect meal for inclusion in feeds.

 

[ollie989898]

Do you not think that the protein component in layers pellets/mash would be a lot better/natural being insect derived than soya derived?

Explain to me the motivations of people cultivating insects to feed to livestock...

 

[Tim G]

'You are what you eat'. I think I still prefer the idea of chickens free ranging and eating a bit of whatever they want to, corn and layers mash thanks.

Do free range chickens not eat insects?

 

[ollie989898]

Do free range chickens not eat insects?

Absolutely they invariably do, but this isn't that.

 

[SteveHants]

Explain to me the motivations of people cultivating insects to feed to livestock...

Circular farming?
Using waste to produce highly digestible protien that is much more analogous to a birds natural diet than soy?

I don't know - I find it uncontroversial, but my background is in aquaculture, where the cultivation of small nematodes, polychaetes and crustaceans as live feed using phytoplankton is reasonably standard.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

We looked at it. Had a zoom meeting with someone from better origin during covid.
We're in our 3rd year of producing pasture reared soy free broilers.
I'd love the insert approach to work. As @SteveHants says it's natural, and can utilise waste products. But the economics just don't add up for our small scale. Their system is (was?) based on buying seed stock from them regularly rather than self contained/ self perputating supply which theoretically is also possible.

Also talked to someone locally producing pet treats from insects who offered to help me set something up myself. Still sounded unviable in terms of cost and labour, but will go and see him sometime to learn more.

 

[SteveHants]

We looked at it. Had a zoom meeting with someone from better origin during covid.
We're in our 3rd year of producing pasture reared soy free broilers.
I'd love the insert approach to work. As @SteveHants says it's natural, and can utilise waste products. But the economics just don't add up for our small scale. Their system is (was?) based on buying seed stock from them regularly rather than self contained/ self perputating supply which theoretically is also possible.

Also talked to someone locally producing pet treats from insects who offered to help me set something up myself. Still sounded unviable in terms of cost and labour, but will go and see him sometime to learn more.

I think the "danger" if you are running a company producing larvae, especially something like fly larvae that live on waste is that the culture itself is usually not that complex.
I guess it's just storage/maintenance of broodstock and hatching eggs

 

[ollie989898]

Circular farming?
Using waste to produce highly digestible protien that is much more analogous to a birds natural diet than soy?

I don't know - I find it uncontroversial, but my background is in aquaculture, where the cultivation of small nematodes, polychaetes and crustaceans as live feed using phytoplankton is reasonably standard.

'Using waste' you say. I see. So explain to me the motivations for companies doing this? The consumer will be better off? The birds will be better off? Nah. We've seen what feeding livestock 'wastes' did before and it didn't end well.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

Explain to me the motivations of people cultivating insects to feed to livestock...

To try and avoid the complete destruction of the rainforests in pursuit of an ever increasing demand for soya?

 

[SteveHants]

'Using waste' you say. I see. So explain to me the motivations for companies doing this? The consumer will be better off? The birds will be better off? Nah. We've seen what feeding livestock 'wastes' did before and it didn't end well.

You do understand that in the case of black soldier flies, we aren't talking livestock waste, don't you?

 

[delilah]

Thing is, all of the environmental damage is done the other side of the farm gate. How many miles does a Morrison egg travel ? When they start running their wagons on insects, then i'm listening.