Innovation is a foundational part of BioMar and an important long-term guiding principle. BioMar are devoted to developing innovative feed solutions to support a sustainable and efficient future for aquaculture.
BioMar are a global research organisation, who combine our core competency in R&D with skilled researchers and experts within aquaculture. We utilise state of the art research facilities across the globe and in partnership with many key stakeholders to conduct feed trails and R&D projects to bring new, innovative feed solutions to the market.
Global Research Organisation
BioMar are a global organisation, supplying feed in over 80 countries for more than 45 different marine species. BioMar are devoted to developing innovative feed solutions across the globe to support a sustainable and efficient aquaculture sector. To achieve this goal, BioMar will utilise cutting edge technology and our state-of-the-art research facilities across the world to develop innovative feed solutions for many different marine species in different locations around the world. BioMar has highly skilled and knowledgeable researchers both globally and locally, who combine to utilise our global resources and knowledge to create innovative solutions to address local challenges.
Understanding our customer’s needs, challenges, and wants is essential to providing innovative feed solutions. BioMar’s technical department and BioFarm bridge the gap between global and local R&D. BioMar’s technical department set the strategy for new and improved products, define customer needs, and focus on knowledge gaps in collaboration with R&D to provide new diet solutions. Members of the tech team take an active part of R&D innovation, conducting commercial trails to track product performance. BioFram provide on farm support for our customers and experience firsthand their major challenges during production. Together, BioFarm and the Technical department ensure BioMar can adapt to local market needs and provide new feed solutions that address the major challenges of our customers.
Research Ambitions
As aquaculture continues to grow across the world, BioMar strive to continually improve our products, processes and technology to support sustainable development. To do so we utilise our own research facilities while also running feed trails in partnership with customers. When conducting R&D, BioMar look to develop new products, increase our products performance, optimise our recipes, improve the sustainability of our feed, improve fish health, test new raw materials, and develop new innovative diets to address customers’ needs or for new species. Feed cost often account for the largest production cost in aquaculture, which is why feed performance is a major competitive parameter for BioMar. By benchmarking our diets against one another, we can identify what formulations perform well in what conditions and optimise our recipe to maximise product performance.
Key Innovations
Algal Oil
The inclusion of Algae-based ingredients into our diets is a great example of research and development being implemented into our diets. BioMar’s research and development into algae-based ingredients began in 2013, where BioMar ran extensive internal and external research projects. In 2016, our first commercial feeds utilsing the ingredient hit the market and by 2021, BioMar had reached one million tonnes of salmon feeds containing microalgae. This year BioMar Australia commissioned our algal oil storage facility, which will allow BioMar Australia to increase the inclusion of Algal Oil into our feed production and make the ingredient more readily available for our customers in Austarlia and NZ.
Proton
Earlier this year Deep Branch and BioMar signed a long-term partnership with the goal to optimise salmon feed using Proton™. The immediate focus will be optimising salmon feed using Proton™ as a source of protein. Proton™ is a single-cell protein source, developed through a fermentation process that uses carbon capture, effectively transforming carbon waste into a source of protein. Proton™ has a comparable nutritional profile to fish meal, making it a high-quality source of protein that has the potential to supplement fish meal or soya protein in our feeds.
Depp Branch will begin transporting Proton™ form their facility to our Technology Centre in Denmark to produce Proton™-based feed until the end of 2022. Together we will conduct nutritional assessments on the in Denmark, Norway and the UK that will focus on testing the performance, digestibility and other essential parameters for fish health and growth.
Efico Zeta
Efico Zeta is an example of our local experts utilising our global resource to create an innovative feed solution. Efico Zeta was developed here in Australia to service the rapidly expanding aquaculture sector. Aquaculture in Australia has one of the most divers range of species farmed in the world and as it continues to grow, more and more new species are being successfully farmed. To account for this growth in Australian aquaculture, our local expertise combined their knowledge with our global research to create Efico Zeta, a premium diet for warm water tropical species. Efico Zeta become the first commercialised pellet feed used to feed Grouper in Australia and can be used for multiple other species who have similar nutritional requirements as Grouper.
Moving forward
Feed is often the largest production cost and contributes the most environmental impact during the production of aquaculture. Providing innovative feed solutions that optimise and improve our diets performance and sustainability will support Australian aquaculture as it continues to expand. BioMar are driven by innovation, always looking to bring new, innovative raw materials, technology and sustainable feed solution to support an efficient and sustainable aquaculture sector.