Test facilities
Test facilities for Black Soldier Fly farming
At Insect School, we want to help entrepreneurs get started with growing the Black Soldier Fly. We lend a hand by showing practice and providing testing facilities to gain practical experience. We want to be different in that we show concrete tools to get started with a thriving farm. We are not scientists; we are hands-on experts that want to show starting entrepreneurs their way around a Black Soldier Fly farming setup.
Our facilities enable insect enthusiasts to do tests on what waste streams to feed to the larvae of the Black Soldier Fly, how larvae growth can be optimized and reaching the optimal conditions for a commercial insect farm.
By making our facilities available to educational institutions and commercial parties, training and demonstrations can be organized. By facilitating training, we spread awareness of Black Soldier Fly farming. By cooperating with researchers and offering our knowledge, expertise and facilities, we expand existing knowledge. We are proud to have partnerships with various educational institutions.
At Insect School, we provide facilities for each step of the process:
Breeding:
(From adult flies laying eggs to 5-day-old larvae):
Insect School has a large, climate-controlled breeding room. Here all the equipment is available to produce adult flies, lay eggs and raise young larvae.
This breeding room contains so-called love cages, where the Black Soldier Flies mate and lay their eggs. Also present are dark cages, which provide a dark, closed environment for pupae to grow into flies. Larger-scale production models are also available for testing.
Production:
(Larvae that are between 5 and 14 days old):
In addition, Insect School also features two climate-controlled production rooms, each equipped with 140 m² of the revolutionary ZOEM rack technology and available trays. Participants can use large machinery, such as a ZOEM filler, to run larger-scale tests, enabling test situations ranging from 1 to 40 tons of substrate.
Both production areas include highly advanced climate control systems that users can access and adjust via smartphone, tablet, or computer. Sensors throughout the rooms provide participants with live insights into the climate conditions.
Larvae Separation and Processing in BSF Business Training
In this step of the process, users separate the larvae from the substrate. If needed, they can further process the larvae into products such as insect meal or oil. One non-climatized room accommodates this step, equipped with processing tools such as a sieve and a screw press. Participants at Insect School can choose to process the larvae on-site or take them back to their farms for further processing.
Gain experience in Black Soldier Fly farming with our pilot
Hands-On BSF Business Training for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
For entrepreneurs eager to start farming, Insect School offers hands-on experience in breeding and processing the Black Soldier Fly. During a 9-day pilot at our testing facilities, participants gain a first-hand understanding and can decide whether commercial Black Soldier Fly farming is a sector they want to pursue. The pilot also allows participants to present products to potential customers.
Additionally, the pilot gives enthusiasts the opportunity to demonstrate a proof of concept for industrial-scale Black Soldier Fly setups. The pilot facility handles 23 tons of waste over 9 days. It fills one room with two rows of shelving, each 12 meters long and four stories high. This equipment scale supports future expansion, as scaling to a facility with five or ten rooms follows the same process.
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