Bornholm entrepreneur wants to make pig feed more sustainable
Entrepreneur Eik Bidstrup collaborates across various industries when he makes pig feed from soldier fly larvae. Photo: Felix Bidstrup
The entrepreneur Eik Bidstrup wants to start a factory that produces sustainable protein powder for pig feed out of black soldier fly larvae. And with help from Business Center Bornholm, he has already found two local partners.
Black soldier fly larvae are to become sustainable pig feed. That is the business idea of Eik Bidstrup from Bornholm, who is well underway with realising the construction of a fly farm here on Bornholm.
– Because I am from Bornholm and frequently visit the island, I realised that there is a unique opportunity here on the island to create such a sustainable project. Partly because there are around 500,000 finishing pigs a year on Bornholm, all of which need protein supplements, he explains, adding that most of the country's pigs still receive feed protein based on soya, which is imported by the tonne from South America every year.
– That is to say, you cut down some rainforest and make a lot of soya fields, and afterwards you transport the soya protein 10,000 kilometres to Denmark and from there on to Bornholm. So it is definitely not a sustainable model, just as we live in a world where security of supply is also at stake, he says.
However, by breeding an army of black soldier fly larvae, it is possible to produce a natural and nutritious alternative to soybeans, explains Eik Bidstrup, who, in his own words, sees an opportunity »to do something good for our world« while simultaneously building a business case.
Here I was met with an openness that I have rarely experienced. For they always have time to answer questions and bend over backwards for you. And when you have been away from Bornholm for 30 years, as I have, it makes a world of difference when you return to the island that there are people who know the various businesses and conditions on the island that you don't know yourself, says the entrepreneur, who with the help of Business Center Bornholm was pointed in the direction of two potential partners – Bornholmergrisen and Espersen.
A sustainable partnership
The Bornholm entrepreneur therefore set about researching the subject and found valuable sparring at Business Center Bornholm.
– Here I was met with an openness that I have rarely experienced. Because they always have time to answer questions and bend over backwards for you. And when you have been away from Bornholm for 30 years, as I have, it makes a world of difference when you return to the island that there are people who know the various businesses and conditions on the island that you don't know yourself, says the entrepreneur, who with the help of Business Center Bornholm was pointed in the direction of two potential partners – Bornholmergrisen and Espersen.
And precisely those two partners make complete sense, he says.
– In this kind of factory that I am in the process of building, there is both some input and some output. So when the protein powder is ready, I have made an agreement with Brian Kofoed, owner of Bornholmergrisen, to test the product on his pigs. And regarding Espersen, the agreement is that instead of discarding their fish waste to the biogas plant, they can have it converted into feed in my factory. These black soldier fly larvae eat waste, explains Eik Bidstrup, who is therefore looking forward to an upcoming local collaboration.
– Both companies have been very helpful with their part. Espersen has been very accommodating both in relation to seeing the purpose of the sustainable profile in my business, but also in wishing to contribute through the project. Bornholmergrisen has been very accommodating in relation to making their help available with testing the feed on their pigs.
Thus, collaboration across various industries contributes not only to a sustainability aspect for himself, but also for his future partners.
While soya powder has a high carbon footprint both in terms of transport and cultivation in South America, we are substituting it with a product that is carbon neutral. And on top of that, we are using waste, which otherwise does not have a particularly high value. We use that for something new and bring it into this value chain.
Requires new inventions
How far are you with your case?
– Right now I am in a phase where, in collaboration with Espersen and Bornholmergrisen, I have applied for some EU grants. And hopefully when that is in place, and the basic economy is in place, we will start a test phase where we test the various substrates we receive as waste, including from Espersen, which has some waste from its production that is traceable and super good for feeding larvae with, he says, explaining the process from soldier fly to powder.
– The flies are cultivated separately, and they lay fly eggs. And the eggs are turned into larvae, and it is these that are used. Partly they are larger than the flies, as well as containing more protein. The feed waste is then turned into a kind of porridge, in which the fly eggs are placed, and within 7 days they hatch and grow large. Afterwards, they are removed, the waste is separated, and the larvae are turned into protein powder.
Afterwards, the plan is to produce some batches of the sustainable protein powder, which will then be tested in laboratories to check that it is as it should be, explains the soon-to-be fly farmer, who in the same phase must travel to secure more investors in order to build his factory, where the objective is also to make production economically viable.
– It is important to us, and it requires some new types of processes. Because the challenge is that soy protein is cheap to produce compared to protein powder based on black soldier fly larvae. So we have to be good at refining production, and that also requires some new inventions that we are working on, says Eik Bidstrup, who has no doubt, however, that Bornholm is the exact right location for his both green and visionary business profile.
– I think that the symbiotic approach, where businesses help each other and use each other's waste as resources and so on, is super important in a place like Bornholm. Here, curiosity and a willingness to give a little of yourself to others is important. I feel there is a very great openness to that on Bornholm in general, says Eik Bidstrup, who will be one of the country's first producers of sustainable pig feed based on black soldier fly larvae when the island's upcoming fly farm is completed.
BY JOAN ØHRSTRØM