Page 14 - Vol.36-No.8 issue

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT & SERVICE

ANIMAL FEED MADE FROM RECYCLED CARBON SECURES

¤2.5M EUROPEAN INNOVATION COUNCIL (EIC)

ACCELERATOR FUNDING

and there is a clear alignment between our
goals and the facility’s overall ambitions
for CO2 recycling and sustainable hydro-
gen use. The industrial site gives us the
ability to scale up quickly and has room
for a large-scale production facility as well
as the raw materials to create Proton™. We
have access to everything we need.”
Bert Kip, CEO of Brightlands Chemelot
Campus, said: “Deep Branch fits into our
sustainable profile perfectly, and is the first
organization at this campus that is active
in gas fermentation. This is another area
where we can develop a leading position.”
Circle 17 on enquiry card

AGRI-INNOVATION
UK biotech company, Deep Branch, has partners to gather valuable data about the
secured further investment to scale up cost, digestibility, nutritional quality and REVOLUTIONIZING
the sustainable generation of protein that carbon footprint of Proton™.
could transform food production and sup- Working with renewable power compa- THE FUTURE OF FARMING
ply chains.
ny, Drax, as well as a consortium of indus- 2021 welcomes new features to SAUDI
Complementing the REACT-FIRST proj- try leading partners, the technology has al- AGRICULTURE, how artificial intelligence
ect, the company is turning industrial ready been proven on a smaller scale. This introduces a futuristic approach to farming
emissions into novel protein sources for latest funding will enable Deep Branch to improving efficiency, sustainability and
animal feed and now, with European Inno- scale up increasing production to enable profit for the industry. Together we can rev-
vation Council (EIC) Accelerator funding animal feed manufacturers to expedite olutionize the future of farming and contin-
of €2.5 million the company will be able performance testing of the new protein. ue, with nearly 40 years of experience as
to scale up the production process. The a respected event, certifying the Kingdom
funding will go towards building a new Deep Branch was one of only two UK of Saudi Arabia as a major player in the
facility at the Netherlands-based HYPER- companies to be shortlisted for the EIC Agricultural sector. The areas of agri-tech
LINK “https://www.brightlands.com/en/ programme. covered at the show include:
brightlands-chemelot-campus” Bright- Peter Rowe, CEO of Deep Branch,
lands Chemelot Campus, a hub for circular said: “In the UK, and in Europe, poultry and
chemistry and chemical processes, which farmed fish are usually fed on fishmeal and Artificial Intelligence
Deep Branch expects to be operational by soy, which is mainly imported from South As the population grows and food de-
Q2 2021. America and has a huge environmental mand is high, efficiency and productivity
impact. We are developing a new, sustain- are key. The agricultural industry is now in-
Using microbes to convert CO2 from
industrial emissions, into a new type of able way of producing animal feed, which corporating artificial intelligence to assist
single-cell protein, called Proton™, Deep reduces CO2 emissions by more than 90 with various processes including data, pest
Branch has developed a low carbon animal percent, compared to the currently used control and checking the soil to maximize
feed with a nutritional profile that is com- protein sources. growth. Join the conversation at SAUDI AG-
parable with fishmeal, the gold-standard “Setting up the pilot plant represents an RICULTURE to see how agri-tech can help
protein source in aquafeed. However, un- important next step in finding the perfect the future of farming by reducing workload
like fishmeal, Proton™ can be produced recipe for Proton™ that meets the require- for a sustainable and effective world.
year-round, reducing the impact of any ments of feed producers. We’ll be under-
seasonal fluctuations in price or yield. taking further trials with BioMar and AB Drones & Aerial Imaging
Agri, two leading animal feed companies
The REACT-FIRST project supported by that support the salmon and poultry farm- Farming comes with huge responsibility
grant funding from Innovate UK, the UK’s ing industries. Thanks to the EU’s Horizon involving continuous supervision to ensure
Innovation Agency is the first-of-its-kind. 2020 research and innovation support, we everything is growing correctly and no
It brings together 10 consortium partners can expand our production capacity to disease has struck the crop. Rather than
from industry and academia that share a match the volumes that feed producers walking the breadth of the land, farmers
commitment to tackling the global climate need to run these trials. have introduced drones to fly around tak-
crisis and achieving net zero carbon emis- ing photos and capturing data for analysis.
sions in the food production industry. Ex- “Brightlands Chemelot Campus is the Aside from its photography capabilities,
tensive research and testing will help the ideal location for our Scale-Up Centre, drones are being used to spray the crops

12 Vol. 36 No. 8