EnviroFlight is officially open and operating in Maysville.
Carrie Kuball, sales and marketing for EnviroFlight, welcomed guests and gave a brief overview of what the company produces.
“We are here to commemorate the grand opening of the very first commercial Black Soldier Fly facility in the United States,” she said. “The journey to reach this achievement started a few years ago when Darling Ingredients and Intrexon joined forces and invested in a new industry, which harnesses the potential of the Black Soldier Fly to upcycle food and feed residues to premium nutrition for animals.”
Kuball said insect production has provided new opportunities to meet protein demands across the country.
“The Black Soldier Fly are amazing little insects producing more than 1,000 times the protein per acre as compared to beef, poultry and soy,” she said. “They do this with the same or lower volumes of feed inputs and can utilize feed stocks that others can’t. It requires less water and produces less output of carbon dioxide, methane and ammonia compared to other livestock species. Quite simply, bugs can feed the world.”
Dr. Liz Koutsos, president of EnviroFlight, said the company was located in Maysville for a variety of reasons.
“It was chosen for lots of different reasons; the proximity of our feed stocks, location compared to major cities and transportation routes and just as importantly, Maysville has provided us with an amazing source of a dynamic, energetic and very educated workforce,” she said. “In addition, within the first couple weeks of me coming to Maysville, we had folks reach out from the community organizations almost the first day I was here. The sense of welcome has been overwhelming and we are very thankful for that.”