The North American Insect Innovation Center by Innovafeed is located in Decatur, Illinois, in the heart of the U.S. corn belt and next to ADM's North American headquarters.
Photo: Innovafeed.
Innovafeed, the world's leading insect biotech company whose main market is aquaculture, yesterday inaugurated its North American Insect Innovation Center (NAIIC) in Decatur, Illinois, the U.S. This pilot plant is the first step in the industrial expansion of the producer of insect ingredients for high-quality animal feed - including aquafeed -, pet food, and plant nutrition in North America, and aims to scale up the production and commercialization of insect protein in the United States.
The Innovation Center is the first stage in the plant that Innovafeed is building in partnership with the human and animal nutrition company ADM. Although a comprehensive Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) has yet to be conducted at NAIIC, the planned large-scale manufacturing plant will replicate a pioneering industrial symbiosis model developed by Innovafeed in France.
In an exclusive WeAreAquaculture interview with Maye Walraven following her appointment as Innovafeed's General Manager for North America, she told us that to explain why the French company had chosen the U.S. for expansion, it may be helpful to first understand its production model.
Innovafeed raises Hermetia Illucens, also known as black soldier fly, in state-of-the-art indoor farms, efficiently utilizing by-products from the agricultural industry in an innovative zero-waste framework. Therefore, for its plants, it looks for locations that have a large availability of these by-products that are not food waste but by-products from processes like turning wheat into starch or turning corn into glucose syrup. These remaining particles, which are fed to the insects, have a very stable composition and, unlike if they are used as waste, do not depend on seasonality.
Three areas of the world have a greater availability of them: Northern Europe, with very wheat-intensive agriculture and many mills but now affected by the war in Ukraine; Southeast Asia, where palm oil predominates; and North America, mostly focused on corn. That is the reason behind the partnership with ADM and the strategic location of this North American Insect Innovation Center by Innovafeed.
The choice of Decatur, Illinois, is no coincidence. Located in the heart of the corn belt next to ADM's North American headquarters and the world's largest corn milling operations, with hundreds of processing plants in multiple States, the region offers high potential for this first plant and for deploying multiple sites in the future. Moreover, the broader area is also a historical innovation hub for the agro-industry, making it a strategic location for Innovafeed to serve its core markets.
View of NAIIC by Innovafeed facility front. The Innovation Center is the first stage in the plant that Innovafeed is building in partnership with ADM.
ADM's corn mill in Decatur is the biggest in the world. A pipeline will connect the plant to the ADM's corn processing wet mill, allowing it to directly recover up to 300,000 tons per year of by-products that will be transformed into high-quality insect ingredients producing up to 60,000 metric tons of animal feed protein derived from black soldier fly.
"We chose Decatur for our first U.S. operation because of its location in the heart of the Midwest corn belt and its proximity to our partner ADM and other agribusiness leaders," said Clément Ray, CEO of Innovafeed. "ADM’s corn by-products are a rich resource that we will leverage to fuel our black soldier fly production. At the same time, this circular process will present a tangible solution to contribute to our Mission and the US Department of Energy’s objectives of decarbonizing the industrial sector."
"We are thrilled to partner with Innovafeed on this exciting project that highlights our commitment to responsible and sustainable sourcing," said on his part Chris Cuddy, ADM Senior Vice President and President of ADM’s Carbohydrate Solutions business.
"Our collaboration is a great example of how we are constantly seeking innovative solutions to meet the growing demand for alternative protein sources in animal and pet products. By expanding our value chain and offering collaboration opportunities to leading, innovative partners, we are positioning ADM as the provider of choice for responsible, sustain materials across the food, beverage, feed, fuel, consumer product and industrial spaces," he continued.
The map shows the strategic location of Innovafeed's NAIIC next to ADM's corn mill in Decatur, the biggest in the world.
Cuddy went further and also pointed out another key point of this project. "We are proud to be a part of this job-creating project and look forward to the positive impact it will have on our communities," claimed ADM Senior Vice President and President of ADM’s Carbohydrate Solutions business.
The insect ingredients production facility that starts up with NAIIC is part of a local ecosystem of industrial projects in Decatur that are poised to create future-oriented jobs and help cement the region as a catalyst for local economic growth and innovation.
"As the project expands, we believe Innovafeed can benefit from a strongly qualified local workforce, as well as contribute to developing new skills specific to our innovative industry," stated Maye Walraven. "Furthermore, we envision Decatur as a promising hub for innovation with many opportunities for collaboration between Innovafeed and the neighboring projects that have recently been announced in the area," continued US General Manager for Innovafeed.
Both present at the inauguration, Decatur Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe and Governor JB Pritzker underscored the town's and the State of Illinois' commitment to innovation, sustainability, and its key role in driving local and global economic impact within the United States. "Innovative, exciting new approaches to agricultural and environmental challenges are what Illinois is all about, from the invention of the farm silo to global leaders like Innovafeed," said the Governor.
NAIIC ribbon-cutting ceremony. In addition to Innovafeed and ADM officials, Decatur Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker were also in attendance.
In addition to being a partner in the construction of what will be the world's largest insect protein plant, ADM will also be Innovafeed's preferred partner to sell into the pet food market. Innovafeed also has a global partnership with Cargill to bring new healthy ingredients to fish farmers.
As a result of this collaboration, in February of this year, Innovafeed introduced its new Hilucia™ brand giving a boost to its already existing range of high-quality animal and plant nutrition ingredients with minimal environmental impact. However, before this official presentation, since 2023, the biotech company had already marketed Hilucia™ insect ingredients for the pet food market in North America in partnership with ADM.
Hilucia™ range includes two new products: Protein for Monogastrics and Oil for Aqua. The areas in which it will be developed are pets, livestock, aquaculture, and agriculture. With it, the company participates in the Millennial Salmon project, in which eight leading organizations from across the value chain are trying to bring the world's most sustainable farmed salmon to market. In addition, Hilucia™ Protein in shrimp farming has been shown to reduce mortality and increase yield.
Thus, although the pet food market is more mature in North America for Innovafeed at this stage, we should not forget that aquaculture is its main market and, therefore, in the spotlight. "We do believe that land-based aquaculture is going to be a really interesting market for us because they have very strong impact on preserving the environment and it's something that we also are very strongly positioned on, and we also think it enables a lot of traceability on both of the feed but the fish," Maye Walraven explained in the exclusive interview with WeAreAquaculture. The inauguration of this North American Insect Innovation Center is the first step.