Opening of the biggest hatchery for Black Soldier Fly in France

Between 2018 and 2020 in France, Cycle Farms has focused its research and development effort on Hermetia Illucens biology. During this program, the team explored first the mating activity of the flies. Early stage of genetics has been established. This project has become industrial with different important results (increase of egg production with the same population, decrease of the cost by animal, etc.).

The insect market has a huge potential to meet a strong development for the next decades and is looking for volumes to sell a bigger quantity of insect meal and oil. The beginning of this market remains to be able to get the animals to feed, process and sell. Based on some exchanges with different actors of the market, Cycle Farms developed a new offer: sell breeders or ready-to-feed animal.

Cycle Farms is able to deliver living animals of small size (larvae from 5 mg up to 15 mg) which will be fed and achieve their life cycle in the industrial set-up of the client. Devileries can be done daily by specific logistic companies (with an authorisation of transport for living animals). This offer is mostly dedicated to French and neighborhood countries. For export, Cycle Farms prefers to deliver pupa to increase the production capacity. In both cases, the perfect management of transport conditions brought guarantee of optimized quality. Technical offer and first prospection concluded, the volumes sold has to be increased. Indeed, the French market is requesting a need of 9 billion animals by week to reach the announcement done by actors in the past two years. In the Beaufort center, Cycle Farms has been able to reach a production of 30 millions animals by week.

To answer to the volume need, Cycle Farms has decided to increase its product and invested on semester 2 of 2021 on a new production unit in France. The company has worked with its historical partner to select the building. The project naturally leads to the renovation of a day-old chick hatchery to industrialise our new offer.

During 5 months, different companies has worked to accomplish the work on the building. It has been done quickly to answer to needs from clients which were looking for more volumes to achieve their growth. We have started to deliver first animals from February and challenge all the production’s hypothesis at a large scale level.

Animals are sent in France every day. Despite the increase of volumes, animal quality has been stable and meet the expectations of the customers. The site is now employing twelve people and can produce up to 300 millions animal per week.

Cycle Farms got some free volumes to help you in your growth. You can contact the team who will help you on your enquiry.