'Insect farming is an ideal sector for the Netherlands and the world: sustainable, circular, useful'

Source: The Limburger

Photo: Laurens Eggen

If it is up to Bob Holtermans, Horst will become the beating heart of international insect cultivation, just as it was once the beating heart of mushroom cultivation. With his company Insect Engineers and the Insect School he founded, he is already at the basis of that future dream. Why insects? "The larvae of the black soldier fly can process a lot of different waste streams. Such as fruit and vegetable waste, bread scraps and pig manure. Moreover, the industry can be completely circular."

Bob's roots are in mushroom farming. "My parents were mushroom growers from the early 1970s to the early 1990s. They took their mushrooms to the auction and sold for the price of the day. My father had an interest and understanding of technology and in 1996 started Mush Comb, a company focused on refurbishing, repairing and later building machines used in mushroom growing. Machines that fill shelves with compost and empty them again, picking platforms and climate control systems. My father bought the inventory of a nursery and from there he put together projects. The customer looked for something and he delivered. He had mostly foreign customers and they could be as far away as South America and Australia." After several years of vacation work with his father, Bob joined the company in 2004. He was just 21 at the time.