Description of impact (500 words)
Agriculture is the foundation of human nutrition, as it is used both for direct consumption and for feeding livestock and fish in aquaculture. The cumulative challenges of climate change, geopolitics, and energy availability are causing crop losses, which could become synchronized in the future and threaten global food security. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve food production methods, and even to develop new methods of food production that can withstand the challenges of the crises described above to help ensure food security in the coming decades.The aim of this project is to build and monitor a commercial-scale bioreactor to produce zooplankton that can be used as food for livestock, fish, and humans.
This is the first animal protein production system that does not depend on an external carbon source, as it co-produces microalgae as feed for the zooplankton. It operates with low energy consumption, minimizes the use of fresh water and produces no effluent. Furthermore, the system has higher productivity per area unit than agriculture and is climate resilient. Finally, its low-tech nature would facilitate its adoption.
| Category of impact | Economic , Environmental, Technological |
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