From precision farming to the insect industry: how biotechnology is responding to the global challenge of hunger

In 2023, some 281.6 million people will suffer from acute hunger, according to the World Food Crisis Report, a joint study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The study identifies three main drivers of hunger crises: conflicts, which devastate some twenty countries where hunger affects more than 135 million people; extreme weather events, which are responsible for the hunger of some 57 million people; and economic shocks, which cause hunger for 75 million people. A picture that translates into the fifth consecutive year of advancing food insecurity.

In this context, the report warns of the need for urgent responses to transform food systems and address the underlying causes of food security and malnutrition. The path towards a more sustainable food industry is not an easy task due to factors such as lack of political will or fears within the sector itself about the transformation. The current value chain is not sustainable and the agri-food sector does not have sufficient capacity to respond to global demand.

In the face of these challenges, biotechnology is playing a crucial role in the fight against hunger through various strategies and advanced technologies, with the aim of improving agricultural productivity, increasing crop resistance to diseases and adverse climatic conditions, as well as developing more nutritious food. Today, on the occasion of World Hunger Day, we analyze some of these through the work of two of our partners: AINIA and Tebrio. 

Precision agriculture or agricultural robotics, some of the main solutions

“Precision agriculture is an agricultural practice that uses advanced technologies to optimize both the efficiency of inputs and the productivity of crops and livestock management,” say AINIA, a private technology center with more than 35 years of experience in R+D+i. The use of technologies such as robotics, remote sensing, photonics, or artificial intelligence makes it possible to collect detailed, real-time data on soil conditions, crop condition, climate and other environmental factors that influence agricultural production.

Thanks to precision farming, farmers can apply the exact amount of water, fertilizer and pesticides needed, thereby reducing waste and production costs. “This not only improves economic efficiency, but also reduces environmental pollution and improves the sustainability of agricultural practices,” AINIA explains. In this way, precision agriculture can contribute to feeding a growing world population and, by improving crop yields in existing production areas, the demand for food can be met without the need to expand cultivation areas, thus preserving natural resources.

“At AINIA we have developed proprietary software platforms that capture, analyze and process real-time data and images generated by visible, spectral and laser image sensors. This analysis allows farmers to make more informed decisions on when and how to irrigate, fertilize, detect the presence of pests or diseases and manage their crops, which is crucial to prevent waste due to overproduction or mismanagement of natural resources.”

This work is complemented by the production of biofertilizers and biopesticides as part of the 'Farm to Fork' strategy of the European Green Pact. They also highlight other areas of work such as the use of intelligent sensors and agricultural robotics that enable more efficient and precise agricultural management.

Insect industry: Estimated global production of 870,000 tons and more than 30,000 jobs by 2030

“Biotechnology is a cornerstone for the agri-food industry. Now it is no longer just a question of producing more, which is also important, but of producing better, of being more efficient so as not to mortgage the future of the agri-food industry itself,” says Adriana Casillas, CEO and co-founder of Tebrio, a biotechnology company dedicated to the rearing and industrial processing of the insect Tenebrio Molitor.

Casillas stresses that biotechnology is one of the “most versatile and powerful tools we have in the agri-food industry”, since it can help us in multiple ways: “I'm not just talking about genetic engineering to improve the resistance and adaptability of our crops. I'm talking about the development of new foods, such as insect protein, cultured meat or everything that fermentation offers us. In this sense, Tebrio's work plays a decisive role.

The mealworm, as the Tenebrio molitor is commonly known, has numerous applications ranging from animal feed to plant nutrition, including novel bioindustrial uses. In June 2021, the European Commission gave the green light to its use in human food following the positive opinion of the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), which concluded that Tenebrio Molitor was not only a highly nutritious food, but also safe.

There are currently more than a dozen companies dedicated to insect farming in Spain with an unequal degree of development. Tebrio is a pioneer in this sector thanks to its decade-long history and its model that allows them to scale production. Europe is a world power in the insect industry. Tebrio has no doubt that this industry will be “fully established, both in the public agenda and in the public conscience and within the agri-food sector” in the next 10 years.

The company does not operate in the human food sector, at least not directly: “We believe it is more useful to have an impact on the sector of feeding the animals that will later feed us”. The focus of the Salamanca biotech company thus responds to an important challenge: 40% of the arable land that currently exists on the planet is used exclusively to feed livestock, with crops that are often not sustainable. “If we introduce insects into the diet of animals that consume them naturally in the wild, such as chickens, pigs or fish, what we will achieve is to recover millions of hectares of crops for human consumption or to generate biodiversity”.

“From it we extract high quality protein, similar to that of white fish meat, and fat with an oleic and linoleic profile halfway between olive oil and sunflower oil. These two ingredients can only be extracted from the insect in the larval stage,” Casillas explains. When the insect becomes an adult and turns into an imago, transforming into a beetle, “we can no longer obtain protein of such good quality, but we take advantage of this to extract chitin and transform it into chitosan. Chitosan is the second most abundant biopolymer in nature and opens up a whole horizon of possibilities. It can be used to make 100% biodegradable plastics or to treat wastewater contaminated with heavy metals.

“Its antimicrobial and antifungal properties also allow it to be used in the biohealth and pharmaceutical sectors. It can be used as a food additive, as an encapsulant of active ingredients... But right now we are mainly developing utilities related to the cosmetics industry, both to formulate personal care products and to manufacture functional and sustainable plastics that improve or preserve the properties of these cosmetic products.”

Tebrio also highlights the direct application of mealworms in agriculture. Its CEO explains that mealworm excrements are a powerful biofertilizer that enriches the soil “thanks to the microbial consortium they present and their chitin content, which allows the soil to regenerate and favors water retention”. A use on which highlights its important role in reducing our dependence on chemical fertilizers.

“Insects are a healthy and first-rate alternative, although there are also others. It is not a question of replacing one for the other because if we did we would still have the same problem and the same urgency,” Casillas asserts. “Insects meet all the requirements, because they can also be raised on an industrial scale and with a very limited environmental impact. We work based on a circular economy model, which uses discards from other agri-food industries, such as by-products from cereals and other vegetables, to transform them into perfectly functional raw materials that can be reintroduced into the value chain,” says Casillas.

“According to data managed by Ipiff (International Platform of Insects for Animal and Human Food), of which Tebrio is a member and which I have the privilege of chairing, we producers have attracted more than 1.5 billion euros in investments. By 2030, we will reach an estimated global production of 870,000 tons and will employ more than 30,000 people, including direct and indirect jobs. These are figures that speak for themselves,” he concludes.