Macon Reporter

A French biotechnology company, which produces protein from insects for animal feed, has partnered with human and animal nutrition provider ADM of Decatur to construct and operate in Decatur as "the world’s largest insect protein production site." Construction is planned to start in 2021.

InnovaFeed will own and operate the plant that “will co-locate with ADM’s Decatur corn processing complex, with ADM supplying feedstocks, waste heat and more,” according to ADM’s press release.

InnovaFeed markets proteins by farming the insect Hermetia illucens or what’s known as the “black soldier fly,” according to InnovaFeed's website. The proteins are for aquaculture and animal feed.The partnership results in InnovaFeed’s first international facility, and is expected “to create more than 280 direct and 400 indirect jobs in the Decatur region by the second phase,” stated the press release. 

| File Photo

“Our model is based on a unique technological know-how which makes it possible to replace the insect at the heart of our agro-food system and to give it back the place it naturally has in our ecosystem: that of recycling nutrients to then feed fish, birds or small mammals,” explained the InnovaFeed’s website.

InnovaFeed’s Decatur plant’s goal is to annually produce “60,000 metric tons of animal feed protein,” according to the press release.

“The plant will also have the capability to produce 20,000 metric tons every year of oils for poultry and swine rations, and 400,000 metric tons of fertilizer,” said the release.

Illinois State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) said in a statement that a local team made possible the jobs the plant will bring.

“Nicole Bateman at the EDC (Economic Development Corporation) and (Decatur) Mayor (Julie) Moore-Wolfe have much to be proud of, and a big thanks, of course, to ADM,” said Rose in hs statement, “Their collective hard work and team efforts have brought some much-needed good news and a real shot in the arm for Decatur, Macon County, and the whole region.”