StartupRealities

StartupRealities No 73 LocustHarvester  is an animal feed producer which harvests naturally occurring locusts by tracking the breakout of locust plagues (invasions) around the world. Once it has identified an outbreak, the company captures locust in their billions using specialised equipment of traps, nets and chemical attractants. LocustHarvester turns thousands of tonnes of ground dried locusts into animal feed annually. The company's activity also alleviates the environmental pressure on locust-stricken agricultural regions. Locust meal is used in aquaculture and in pig farms, as dried locust meal contains 130 to 280 grams of protein per kilogram. The copper found in locust blood (insect blood contains copper, while mammalian blood contains iron) seems to enhance fat to protein conversion when fed to pigs, recent research shows . CEO QUOTE "We turn a pest into gold dust. Well, into protein dust, to be precise. We help the world get rid of locust and we make excellent...

StartupRealities No 18 InvasiveWeeds Limited is a bioscience company that researches invasive species  and weeds to find useful substances, genes or other uses of invasive plants and animals that can be beneficial to the local economy, to science and to humanity. For example, the invasive species of Japanese knotweed has been found to contain high amounts of resveratrol, an active chemical compound found in grape skin. FINANCE The company is primarily financed by public funding, as its projects are ideal for winning research funding from the EU Horizon 2020 programme and the US National Science Foundation. It patents and licenses its scientific discoveries which contributes a smaller share of the company's revenue. SCIENCE POPULARISATION The company is an active contributor to the Wikipedia page: List of edible invasive species . For example, Kudzu (Japanese arrowroot, a legume species of climbing perennial vines) helps in controlling erosion and enhances the soil, as ...