Foodvalley NL initiative insect products on consumers' menus ready to fly!
Insects will be an important source of responsible, circular, and healthy proteins on the plate of North-West European consumers soon. Although we still see some reluctance, this statement is so convincing to producers of insect products, they want to unite in a shared market initiative. At the workshop, organised by Foodvalley NL on 24 November, several companies and experts met to collaboratively outline a joint initiative.
Connect all relevant stakeholders
Of course, there was discussion about the barriers that still exist for many consumers and foodservices and retail companies. Why bet on insect-based products such as burgers, protein shakes, bread, and pasta? Even though insects are now often still something for enthusiasts, the taste and texture of insect products should not have to stand in the way of insect products being a mainstream choice these days.
Get in contact
Jolijn Zwart- van Kessel, Innovation Lead Circular Agrifood (left)
Caroline Duivenvoorden, Programme Manager, Circular Agrifood (right)
Looking at the potential role of insects in a circular and more sustainable agrifood system, the momentum is there to move from unknown makes unloved, towards a structural addition to the shelf and menu. Foodvalley NL, in its role as an independent party, will drive this initiative and connect all relevant stakeholders needed to make this shift towards a more insect-based product on the plate of consumers reality.
Are you a retailer or food service company and do you have ambitions to be part of this journey? Or are you the gamechanger not to be missed in this transition? Contact Foodvalley NL for more information about the Initiative! More info about Insects on the plate of the customer
Bundle ambitions on a transition towards more insects on the plate of the customer
To provide a worldwide population of ten billion people by 2050 with tasty, affordable, healthy and sustainable food, we need to adopt a circular production and consumption system. Insects are an important resource to valorize wastestreams that cannot easily be converted directly in other ways. Moreover, insects are highly efficient upcyclers compared to other livestock animals and a high value source for proteins. One of the main barriers that producers are still facing to grow the market for insects, is to find a suitable market with a high enough price according to the costs price of the product. Insect products that are developed for human consumption have a great potential to reach the right market conditions. As Foodvalley NL we also spoke to various partners in the supply chain, and they see a great potential for an initiative with various parties in the supply chain who bundle efforts and ambitions to work together on a transition towards more insects on the plate of the customer.
With this initiative that we start as Foodvalley NL, we work towards new collaborations that result in bringing new products and market concepts from edible insects successfully to the plate of the consumer in the Northwest Europe market. We also partner with various global parties like the Network for Insect Knowledge in the Netherlands en Enterprise Singapore to realise a professional, scalable and safe value chain together.
Photo header: De Krekerij
Get in contact
Jolijn Zwart- van Kessel, Innovation Lead Circular Agrifood (left)
Caroline Duivenvoorden, Programme Manager Circular Agrifood (right)
How to get insects on the plate of the consumer in Northwest Europe
Insects are an important mean to upcycle sidestreams of agrifood industry and even food waste towards a valuable source for food. As Foodvalley NL we want to contribute to the transition towards for circular agrifood systems, and amongst others realise this by stimulating a professional and scaled market for insect based food concepts (e.g. burgers, shakes, protein bars).
We invite interested parties who are working on the market for edible insects and especially various interested in the foodservice and retail sector.
Are you interested? Contact Jolijn Zwart- van Kessel, Innovation Lead Circular Agrifood or Caroline Duivenvoorden, Programme Manager Circular Agrifood.
Insects as part of the global future of food
In the newly published Insect Scan, Foodvalley NL and Enterprise Singapore team up to highlight the rapidly occurring innovations in this exciting sector from an Asian and European perspective. The jointly developed Insect Innovation Scan brings together a shared vision on the development and opportunities of the insect sector internationally.
Click on button to download the Insect Industry Innovation Scan: Europe and Singapore – The role of Insects in the Future of Food and Feed
Subsidy for shared advanced research equipment
The subsidy scheme stimulates companies and institutes to realise research equipment in the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Utrecht.
Equipment for fundamental research is often expensive, yet it is hardly ever used to its full capacity. To address this challenge, the Regio Deal Foodvalley subsidy scheme provides companies and institutes the possibility to invest in shared advanced research equipment (Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 1-3). Sharing facilities is a proven method to make advanced research equipment available and cost-effective for organisations (working in the field of healthy food and living environments), which enables them to maximise productivity and accelerate innovation.
Conditions Shared Advanced Research Equipment Scheme
- The application concerns an investment in innovative advanced research equipment in the protein transition, food & health and/or circular agrifood domains and is shared via open access.
- The scheme concerns TRL 1-3: fundamental research from observing basic principles, formulating the technology concept and experimental proof of concept.
- The investment benefits organisations in the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Utrecht and will be realised in collaboration with Wageningen University & Research.
- The investment enables organisations to shorten time to market and optimise efficiency during the innovation process.
- The facility will also be made accessible to other organisations at a market price.
- Open call till the end 2024.
For more information, please see the conditions.
Apply for Shared Advanced Research Equipment subsidy
If you require more information or if you intend to apply for a subsidy, please contact us below.
The subsidy applications are processed by Foodvalley NL and the province of Gelderland on behalf of Regio Deal Foodvalley. Organisations can also contact Foodvalley NL for advice on other subsidies and financial schemes specifically for shared facilities. More information about sharing facilities? Please visit the Shared Facility Finder.
Questions? Get in touch
What is a more sustainable and circular agrifood system
Worldwide one third of food produced every year (1.3 billion tonnes) is lost or wasted. Food waste has a global carbon footprint of about 8% of all global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans.
Waste occurs along the entire supply chain from farms to processing and manufacturing to shops, restaurants and at home. The first step is nearly always reduction, the smaller the waste streams the better. Next, new technologies, markets and collaborations can help farmers, producers, and retailers find innovative ways to repurpose their waste streams.
Increasingly, small scale operations seeking to repurpose waste streams have been cropping up. This offers encouragement that circular agrifood business models are gaining traction. However, the scale is still quite small, and many barriers exist. In particular, the high implementation costs are too much for individual stakeholders to bare alone. Although awareness for waste stream upcycling is growing, it remains uncharted territory resulting in general uncertainty and lack of commitment on the way forward. Also, conservative markets with traditional supply chains are unwilling to alter established, highly profitable methods based on cheap, though often unsustainable, raw resources. Foodvalley NL is currently exploring ways to accelerate the uptake of waste streams in food production.
Foodvalley NL takes initiative
Foodvalley NL is currently exploring ways to accelerate the uptake of waste streams in food production. If you are interested, please contact Jolijn Zwart-van Kessel
How to move the consumer and the market towards more upcycled food
Prize based challenge for market-ready refinery solutions for the upcycling of horticulture side streams
Insights Groenboerenplan conferentie 2023
Foodleap 2.0 is now available
Dealmaking in BioeconomyVentures workshop
Upcycling Community
Relevant for: Start-up, Scale-up, SME & Corporates in the agrifood and retail
The Upcycling Community is an international and closed group of business partners that collaborate on the topic ‘upcycling of food losses’. The community setting creates a safe environment where organisations can share ideas, get inspired on new developments and insights from the market and research. The Upcycling Community exists of business partners who are ambitious about upcycling, come from various parts of the value chain, and vary from scale-up to SME and Corporate organisation. Read more about the Upcycling Community.
Are you interested? Please contact Caroline Duivenvoorden or Thomas van der Lee
More insects on the plate of the customer
Relevant for: Dutch farmers, retailers, food process industry
With this initiative, Foodvalley NL works towards new collaborations that result in bringing new products and market concepts from edible insects successfully to the plate of the consumer in the Northwest Europe market. We also partner with various global parties like the Network for Insect Knowledge in the Netherlands en Enterprise Singapore to realise a professional, scalable and safe value chain together.
Are you interested? Read more information about this initiative or contact Jolijn Zwart- van Kessel, Innovation Lead Circular Agrifood or Caroline Duivenvoorden, Programme Manager Circular Agrifood.
Photo: De Krekerij
Dutch Protein Farmers
Relevant for: Dutch farmers, retailers, food process industry
Foodvalley NL brings farmers, the food industry and retailers together to improve the earning capacity of Dutch farmers committed to making the transition to growing new protein crops. Increasing local availability and consumption of plant-based proteins has the added benefits of greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen runoff reduction and increased biodiversity. We are actively mobilising farmers to participate in this initiative. Part of this approach is the launch of a new quality label, “Dutch green protein farmers”. It can be used to improve the market value of products made with locally sourced protein-rich crops. With the result increasing business opportunities for all stakeholders involved. Given its success in the Netherlands, we are now exploring other regions to effectively implement a similar model.
The Dutch Protein Farmers also published a first consumer survey on home-grown plant proteins. Read the research here (in Dutch).
Are you interested? Please contact Jolijn Zwart- van Kessel or Jeroen Willemsen. Or read more about Dutch Protein Farmers.
Regenerative Agriculture Innovation Impact Portfolio
Relevant for: innovative European farmers, agrifood companies, investors, venture caitalists
Regenerative agriculture offers one of the greatest opportunities to help Europe address human and climate health, along with the financial well-being of farmers. Various companies have made commitments to source materials and ingredients from regenerative agriculture. Transitioning to regenerative agriculture offers: restoring the natural rhythm of our ecosystems, reviving landscapes, curbing GHG emissions for generations to come.
With such an impact in mind EIT Food, Foodvalley NL, Food Innovation Hub Europe and Imagine Food Collective are setting up this Innovation Impact Portfolio Europe. The goal of the Innovation Impact Portfolio is to fund technology, start-ups and grants that collectively form a toolkit of end-to-end solutions to regenerative agriculture system challenges which substantially accelerate and de-risk Europe’s transition to regenerative agriculture.
Many parties are of course already investing on Regenerative Agriculture. Nobody can do this alone. Combining strengths, in this portfolio and by building a community, we collectively can make the enormous transition possible that European agri-food needs to go through during the next 7 harvests towards 2030
For further information please feel free to reach out to Jolijn Zwart – van Kessel or Jeroen Wouters.
S3Food
Relevant for: agrifood companies
The aim of the pan-European Smart Specialization Strategy Food (S3Food) Partnership is to set-up a platform and supportive business ecosystem between agri-food clusters and clusters representing technology and/or digital solution providers, relevant RTOs and other stakeholders.
Foodvalley NL takes part in the S3Food partnership to accelerate the digital transition. In combination with the research organization One Planet, research & development and business communities are connected.
Shared facility finder
Relevant for: food processing industry
With Shared facility finder you have a wide range of top-class innovation facilities available at your fingertips. Find and share research equipment, facilities and technologies. Connect with partners and co-investors and explore available funding. Maximize productivity by sharing and using facilities and research and test your innovations before launching them on the market.
Do you want to know what facilities you can use?
Do you have a facility you want to share? Please contact us!
Fastlane
Relevant for: entrepreneurs in the critical phase of commercialization and expansion
Companies that are active in the themes protein transition, circular food chain (regenerative agriculture and waste stream valorisation), precision agriculture and personalised nutrition have applied to participate in the Fastlane programme 2022. The programme combines customised guidance, personal coaching and a network of world-class experts. After each company has determined its own objectives for the programme, a customised plan is developed and implemented in six months in close cooperation with various experts. The ultimate goal is to be ready for the next investment round.
Applications for the 2nd edition are now closed. If you’re interested to apply for the next edition, please send us a message to fastlane@invest-nl.nl .
Upcycling Community
Innovation during a transition can be difficult. Sometimes challenges can be too complicated to tackle on your own. We start this community to create a safe environment where you can partner up on your ideas and find inspiration from each other. We do this by providing the right support and by creating a mix of cross-sectoral organisations working on the same topic. Read more about the Upcycling Community.
Show more partners
Shared Facility Finder helped raise 442 thousand euro for Insect Experience Centre
The Insect Experience Centre plans to use the fund to realize an automated cost-effective insect breeding system. The funding is raised via the Shared Facility Finder with a subsidy from the Regio Deal Foodvalley. “This breeding project is designed to empower the transition to a sustainable food system. We are proud that we were able, together with the founders, to give them a head start. In the near future this facility is to the advantage of more entrepreneurs: the breeding system will also be available to other entrepreneurs,” says Petra Roubos, Lead Shared Facilities Foodvalley NL.
The Shared Facility Finder, an initiative by Foodvalley NL and Wageningen University & Research, supports organizations to maximize productivity and speed up innovation by sharing facilities. Sharing facilities is fast, sustainable, and cost effective. It will contribute to sustainable and healthy food and living environments. The Shared Facility finder is the place where organizations get access to innovation facilities, to find and share research equipment, facilities, and technologies.
And, in the case of the Insect Experience Centre, Shared Facility Finder advices and connects with partners and co-investors and explores available funding.
“Our goal is to enable the use of affordable insect proteins in animal nutrition.” From a business point of view, we want to bring innovations to market faster with the Insect Experience Center and exchange knowledge with our partners. The advice from Shared Facility Finder and the financial support, help us in this,“ says founder of the Insect Experience Centre, Eltjo Bethlehem.
Aside from this project Shared Facility Finder is working on several other funding trajectories, from research equipment to upscaling and demonstration facilities needed for transition in a sustainable food system.
Explore investment and funding opportunities
Interested in investment and funding opportunities? Visit Shared Facility Finder.
Questions? Get in touch
Our Vacancies
About the Foodvalley NL team
A welcoming and energetic team of over 30 professionals working on the transition of the food system. Our core values: Together, Personal, Positive, Learning & Development and Professional. We strive for maximum impact. We value an open, safe and familiar work environment, where we constantly challenge you to learn, experiment and grow.
