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Feeding a Growing Population: Pre-Summit interview with David Henstrom, CEO of UniBio
Unibio creates strong shareholder value by constantly improving the performance and the prevalence of the production of our sustainable protein – Uniprotein®. A protein source that will make it possible to feed the world’s growing population and preserve the planet’s scarce resources.
What solutions are needed to meet the demand for sustainable, nutritious aquafeed?
We need new ways of producing protein to feed the worlds growing population as conventional methods are exhausted. Many are in development, but only a few have reached industrial scale and can produce the large quantities required. It takes time to develop new technology and upscale it to an industrial scale and requires considerable investment. The necessary testing of new protein sources also takes time. In Unibio we have the technology and produce Uniprotein®, which is a uniform and high-quality sustainable protein with a protein content above 70%, that can easily replace fishmeal or soy protein. The production of Uniprotein® is proven at industrial scale and is approved for animal and fish feed in the EU. Uniprotein® can be produced in almost unlimited amounts with very small land use, low water usage and a competitive carbon footprint making it a compelling solution to the growing demand for proteins.
How do you see the aquafeed space developing over the next five years?
The aquafeed market will need to source new, sustainable, and traceable sources of protein to meet the requirements of their customers. The future demand will be for a high-quality protein which is non-GMO, traceable, free from pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, fertilisers, and antibiotics and, of course, performs well in the target species.
How is consumer perception influence changing the demand for certain aquafeeds?
We see many new demands from consumers in other food areas such as animal welfare, sustainability, traceability, full insight into what the animals eat, etc. This is also the case for Aqua. More than 30 million hectares of new farmland, equivalent to all the arable land currently used in Germany and France, would be required to produce enough soy to meet the world’s growing protein needs. New protein sources and production methods are required to avoid further deforestation. Unibio can help the world achieve that with Uniprotein
Why is the Blue Food Innovation summit an important date in your diary? Who are you hoping to meet there?
We look forward to meeting investors, customers, and partners who are like-minded on the need to accelerate the development of sustainable protein to meet the needs of the growing global population. We look forward to joining forces with them to drive a sustainable future for aquaculture.
Unibio is a Gold Partner for the Blue Food Innovation Summit on June 14-14. David will be joining a panel called ‘Sustainable Aquafeed: Scaling Alternative and Novel Feed Ingredients’ with leaders from The Fish Site, Biomar, and the Co-Op. View the full agenda.