WELCOME TO OUR BETA BITS
We Round Up Some Recent News from Beta Bugs in our next Beta Bits Newsletter
Beta Bits – A round up of Beta Bugs ‘best bits’
Since our last Beta Bits, it has been all systems go at Beta Bugs HQ! We marked 5 years of Beta Bugs in Scotland, where our team has now grown to nearly 20 employees, we have continued our travels to events promoting our industry, continue to secure large, regular orders of our Black Soldier Fly egg products, including our BSF Starter Packs and are working behind the scenes on a new larvae product, so watch this space! We are also deep in preparation for the 5th edition of Beta Buzz, our ‘must-have’ insect farming publication which will be released next month.
Below we highlight some key moments from the past few months and include some exciting events we have coming up;
Beta Bugs welcome five new staff members
Beta Bugs are delighted to welcome five new team members to the crew; Allan Black as our new Facilities Manager, Stephanie Rogers as our new Product & Process Development Manager, Anthony Clair as our new Junior Entomologist, Daniel Spence as our new Junior Breeding Programme Entomologist and Gordon McEwen as our new Sales Manager.
Five years of Beta Bugs in Scotland
Scotland is home to a thriving agricultural and aquaculture sector, plus a strong start-up ecosystem that is understanding and supportive of the needs of agri-tech innovators such as ourselves. In particular, the efforts of Scottish Enterprise, UK Agri-Tech Centre, the Roslin Innovation Centre and the Scottish investment ecosystem have all made us feel welcome and proud to call Scotland our home.
We came to Scotland as a team of 3 and a 20 foot shipping container that housed our Black Soldier Fly Colony. We have built our team, raised investment and secured support from Innovate UK and Scottish Enterprise, pioneered Black Soldier Fly selective breeding and quantitative genetics, deployed the UK’s first Black Soldier Fly egg production facility and accelerated the development of the entire insect farming industry through the supply of our products and Beta Buzz, our industry publication for insect farmers.
‘Innovator of the Future’ Award
We were delighted that our Genetics and Breeding Programme Manager, María Martínez Castillero was recognized as “Innovator of the Future” by the Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards back in March for her work with our colleagues at the Roslin Institute on developing our selective breeding programme at Beta Bugs.
Recent Events
The Beta Bugs team have had a busy couple of months attending events all over the world! The team attended the British Pig & Poultry Fair in Birmingham and Groundswell in Stevenage, UK.
Our CEO, Thomas and Genetics & Breeding Programme Manager, Maria also both presented talks at the Insects To Feed the World 2024 conference in Singapore! Click below to find out more about the event:
Upcoming Events
Beta Bugs are on the road again with some exciting upcoming events to attend. The team are off to IEC Venice on 15th-18th September, where our CEO, Thomas will be delivering a presentation on the state of play and direction of the insect farming industry in the UK. Thomas will also be attending A3 Scotland in Inverness on 18th-19th September.
The team will be on the road soon after for the Insects As Food & Feed event in Birmingham on 31st October before heading to Eurotier in Hannover, Germany on 12th-15th November, LandAlive in Bath, UK on 22nd-23rd November and the annual BFREPA event in Telford, UK on 28th November.
The BSF Starter Pack from Beta Bugs
Our BSF Starter Packs are still proving very popular amongst those interested in piloting the insect farming process. Our BSF Starter Packs come supplied with our Just-Fly™ product, reared to high zootechnical standards and are designed for novices who have a keen interest in insect farming, allowing these market entrants the chance to rear their own Black Soldier Fly eggs into larvae. Market entrants may want to test out the rearing operation first before streamlining into their current processes, which will in turn, enable them to fast-track towards creating profitable and scalable impact.
Read more about our BSF Starter Packs here
Read the full article ‘Insect Farming FAQs’ on the blog here
If you have any questions about Beta Bugs or require any further information on our products or our Beta Buzz publication and how you can contribute to the next issue, please do get in touch at info@betabugs.uk, outlining your query and one of the Beta Bugs team members will get back to you.
Best regards,
Beta Bugs Limited
