Insect potential explored during the 5th IFW conference

The 5^th edition of the “Insects to Feed the World” (IFW 2024) conference, organised by the Asian Food and Feed Insect Association (AFFIA), concluded with resounding success at the Singapore EXPO from June 19^th to 22^nd, 2024. The event was pivotal for advancing dialogue and collaboration in the insect feed and food sector.

Over 600 participants attended IFW 2024, underscoring its significance as a global gathering of industry leaders, researchers, policymakers, and entrepreneurs committed to exploring innovative food and feed security solutions. There were 5 keynote speaker presentations and several parallel sessions covering a wide range of topics. Herein, summaries of the keynote speakers are presented.

Insect farming for a circular bio-economy in controlled environment agriculture

Prof. Dr Andreas Vilcinskas

Prof. Dr Andreas Vilcinskas of the Institute for Insect Biotechnology at the University of Giessen focused on the challenges and opportunities for the integration of insect farming in a Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) system. He highlighted that CEA involves the production of plants – including algae -, fungi, insects, shrimps and fish in almost closed and regulated systems to enable the independence of production on seasons, climate and location, aiming for higher productivity and reduction of environmental impact. He said the main challenges in the industrial production of insects are to reduce the cost of end products, prevent the outbreak of insect diseases, optimise industrial processes and create higher added value products from insects.

“In this context, insect farming promotes the coupling of different CEA production systems for resilient and resource-optimised agriculture aiming for zero waste in a circular bio-economy even in urban landscapes,” he said.

He concluded that current research in industrial insect farming aims to reduce costs by utilising industrial and agricultural side streams as a cheap insect diet and upscale the production capacities on insect farms. “Insect farming can integrate other protein production systems such as indoor farming aquaponics, mushroom cultivation, shrimp and fish aquaculture in Controlled Environment Agriculture.”

Developing value-added products and employment in Africa

Dr. Chrysantus Mbi Tanga, Senior Scientist at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) highlighted that the promotion of insect production can contribute to a vibrant circular food/feed system that ensures food and nutritional security, environmental sustainability and employment. He concluded his keynote speech by highlighting 4 take-home messages:

Insect-based technology has a high potential to improve the health and nutrition of animals and transform food systems through a circular economy.
Cutting-edge research is critical to harness the full potential of the edible insect sector and build confidence among the end users.
Capacity building to further research on insect farming and scaling innovations, public-private sector partnerships, and support of governments and development partners are key to success.
There is a need to create continental standards and enabling policies for quality control to attract investors and increase adoption.

From biological diversification to sustainable solutions

Nalini Puniamoorthy

Nalini Puniamoorthy, Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore highlighted how insects represent much of terrestrial biodiversity and play crucial roles in the health and survival of our ecosystems. She mentioned that recent studies have highlighted the growing threat to insect numbers globally and there is an urgent need to understand species diversity and distribution. She said investigating the reproduction of insects can shed light on both proximate mechanisms and ultimate patterns that are behind biological diversification and possibly allow for the identification of more valuable insects. “Selection on reproductive traits can mediate barriers to gene flow while the integration of ‘omics data’ can be a powerful approach,” she said. She also stated that there are numerous challenges in developing a sustainable blueprint for urban systems. She stated: “It is important to align research to industries, communities and local policy regulations.”

A (possible) future welfare roadmap

Dr Meghan Barrett

Dr Meghan Barrett, Assistant Professor at Indiana University Indianapolis gave insights into how welfare science in other animal agricultural industries has supported economic productivity, created product differentiation opportunities, and helped maintain their social license to operate. She said these same benefits may also be provided to the ‘insects as food and feed’ industry by the growing field of insect welfare science. She concluded by highlighting that a (possible) future welfare roadmap could consider:

Industry-academia collaborations on conducting insect welfare research that is likely to improve productivity can grow the field, demonstrate commitment to animal welfare and encourage transparent communication to maintain public trust
Hiring in-house welfare scientists and develop training and oversight protocols, and
Self-regulation whereby agricultural trade associations develop (and regularly update) voluntary animal welfare standards in consultation with independent animal welfare scientists.

Transforming the food system: Commercialise better, compete harder and collaborate smarter

Kees Aarts

Kees Aarts, the CEO and founder of Protix shared the development and future of the insect sector. He reflected on the incredible journey that the insect industry has taken over the past 1.5 decades, but more importantly what stakeholders need to do as an industry to live up to the full potential and bring the food system back into balance with nature. He highlighted the important 3Cs, saying we need to:

Commercialise Better by creating products that customers genuinely want and are willing to pay for. This isn’t just about sales; it’s about delivering superior value and quality that stands out against traditional, less sustainable alternatives.
Compete Harder by celebrating each other’s successes and pushing ourselves to innovate and excel. Healthy competition will drive our industry forward, making us sharper and more responsive to market needs.
Collaborate Smarter as building a successful industry requires more than individual achievements; it demands strong partnerships and alliances across this new circular value chain. By fostering collaboration, we can navigate challenges and seize opportunities, positioning our industry as a leader in sustainable, innovative food and feed solutions.

The next IFW conference

Looking back at the IFW conference, Martin Zorrilla, Chief Technology Officer of Nutrition Technologies stated “We are proud to have been a lead organiser of IFW and especially proud of our 12 R&D team members who presented their research focusing on topical issues on insect production and innovation. We are energised to see Nutrition Technologies’ scale and commercial innovation recognised by the industry, and Malaysia and Singapore becoming global hubs of insect production and research.”

The next IFW will be held in Turin, Italy, in 2026, managed by the Academic Society for Insects as Food and Feed (ASIFF).