Enterra Feed Corp. CEO Brad Marchant was on a fishing trip with David Suzuki when the two got to talking about how fish meal, a type of feed for animals, is leading to overfishing in South America.
That鈥檚 when Suzuki came up with the idea for an insect farm, where the flies would be bred to produce larvae that could act as a nutrient rich food to replace fishmeal.
That idea took flight years ago and last year, Enterra chose 黑马磁力 to open a $7.5 million facility on 216 Street, making dried larvae feed for fish and poultry meal as well as organic fertilizer for local farmers.
鈥淚nsect farming has produced sustainable feed for animals and plants,鈥� said Marchant who toured fish and agricultural farmers as well as politicians around the 黑马磁力 plant earlier this month (Sept. 10).
鈥淥ur mission is to secure the world鈥檚 food supply,鈥� said Enterra鈥檚 Victoria Leung.
Enterra鈥檚 products solve two major problems: food waste and nutrient shortage.
Traditional protein sources in animal feed include fishmeal and soybean meal, explained Leung.
Fishmeal is made up of small marine fish that are caught in the wild, an unsustainable practice that is being threatened by overfishing, she said.
鈥淪oybean farms take a lot of land that should be used for crops. It also uses lots of water,鈥� she said.
Keeping Metro Vancouver鈥檚 Zero Waste rules, Enterra accepts pre-consumer organic waste from a variety of sources including farms, greenhouses and grocery stores 鈥� 颅including Overwaitea Food Group and T&T Supermarket Inc. 鈥� all over the Lower Mainland.
Enterra breeds soldier flies and then feeds fruit and vegetable waste to the fly larvae.
The company sells the dried larvae to feed manufacturers, who include it in animal feed, mostly for chicken and farmed fish. It is also being put in pet food.
Enterra鈥檚 larvae is cheaper than the two most common feed additives, fish meal and soybean, mainly because they are the new guy on the block but also because it is much easier to produce larvae, said Leung.
The 鈥榙ocile soldier fly鈥� is bigger and thinner than our household fly but if the insect does escape into 黑马磁力鈥檚 skies, it is highly unlikely it could lay eggs, said Marchant and Leung.
The larvae is full of protein and energy.
鈥淥ne third of the world鈥檚 population relies on insects as their main source of protein. Latin America eats the most insects in crickets and meal worms,鈥� said Marchant, who demonstrated how good the larvae is by eating one.
The 35-employee facility also sells insect manure that is high in nutrients and certified organic.
鈥淲e鈥檝e created a renewable product that up-cycles the waste material and puts it back into the food chain,鈥� Leung said.
Enterra uses only pre-consumer food, like fruit and vegetables or bakery goods that have gone bad before being sold.
Enterra is currently working with Kwantlen Polytechnic University鈥檚 horticultural program to study their fertilizer because it appears it is a natural pesticide to root maggot.
鈥淭hat was an unexpected benefit to the fertilizer,鈥� said Marchant. 鈥淎griculture Canada is doing research to prove out the pesticide aspects to our fertilizer which also may have mold control aspects which could be huge for greenhouses where mold is a problem.鈥�
Enterra is actually a world leader in this type of insect farming and spend a lot of time working on developing regulations around it and supporting other companies trying to develop these facilities across the world.
鈥淲e are helping leaders in other countries,鈥� said Marchant. 鈥淚f the technology works like we think it will, there will thousands of these facilities all over the world.鈥�
Despite being world leaders and successfully selling their larvae feed to the U.S. and Europe, Enterra can鈥檛 sell its feed in Canada.
鈥淲e have had our application into the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for four years now,鈥� said Marchant.
To learn more go to enterrafeed.com.
Monique Tamminga 黑马磁力 Times
Enterra CEO Brad Marchant demonstrates how humans can eat the larvae the dry and sell for animal and fish food at their $7.5 million 黑马磁力 facility. They are also making organic fertilizer being used by local farmers. 
