Super Protein Production - Designing a sustainable and equitable source of protein
Exploring the possibility of Controlled Environment Agriculture(CEA) through an investable infrastructure lens.
CLIENT Omars, Institute of Design (Educational purpose)
Challenge
Envision an investable and sustainable food system and infrastructure achieved through digitization, decarbonization, and decentralization. This vision must harness Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) technologies like greenhouses, aquacultures, and hydroponic farms, whose market is expected to be $377.6 billion by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate of 18.13%. (Global Newswire) This needs to encompass the entire journey from agricultural product production to the post-production supply chain, extending to consumption or initiating the food manufacturing processes.
Solution
Design sustainable insect-based protein production CEA prototypes, along with their holistic supply chain, with a focus on equity rather than profit. Envision a step-by-step roadmap to reduce the stigma against insect-eating culture, enabling people to appreciate this new source of protein widely.
Exhibit this system in an immersive way.
One of the transformative forces in the 21st century is long-term capital investment that is shaping our economy, society, and environment for decades to come. Focusing on how capital is allocated and the decision-making processes happening to drive innovation, we examined how strategic choice-making through design can influence and shape the opportunity space and anticipate the future by imagining different investment cases.
We explored the potential of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) from the lenses of sustainability, equity, intelligence, and investments. How they are shaped will play a major role in responding to complex issues like sustainability and equity. These infrastructures are at the nexus of multiple systems.
How might we incentivize people’s behavior change to buy more ethically sourced crops?
How might we design decentralized infrastructure built around CEA, allowing it to expand partnerships with new actors?
Healthy and ethical food is not always affordable. How might we create a values-driven infrastructure for producing ethical food to address this issue?
Those are the main questions we tried to address in this project.
A new system we envision
Role
Design Strategist,
Visual Designer(Branding)
Collaborators
Anahita Dasgupta
Emery Donovan
Jorge Martinez Arana
Sunaina Kuhn
Yong Hee Yoo
Supervisor
Project Duration
April 2023 (in Chicago)
Outcome
Welcome to the factory tour showcasing 21st-century nutrition
Introduction: Why insect-based protein?
Market Outlook
The growth of the edible insects market is driven by the increasing greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock and poultry industries, the high nutritional environmental benefits value of insects, the environmental benefits of consuming edible insects, the rising demand for insect-derived protein in the animal feed industry, and the minimal risk of transmitting zoonotic diseases with the consumption of edible insects.
Furthermore, emerging economies are expected to provide significant growth opportunities for the players operating in this market. However, a lack of awareness regarding the benefits of insect consumption is expected to remain a major challenge for the growth of this market.
The Edible Insects Market is expected to reach $9.60 billion by 2030, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 28.3% during the forecast period 2022-2030.
Wood, L. (2022, June 14). $9.6 billion edible insects markets, 2030: Whole insect, insect powder, insect meal, insect oil, crickets, black soldier fly, mealworms - researchandmarkets.com. Business Wire. (Accessed in April 25, 2023)
Consumers’ Needs
Based on interviews conducted with students at the Institute of Design, they acknowledge the importance of protein yet face challenges in meeting their daily protein intake goals. In fact, a significant portion of the population may not be consuming enough protein. According to Medical News Today, up to 46% of the oldest participants in a study did not consume enough protein on a regular basis. The study examined data from the 2005-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to investigate the protein intake of 11,680 adults aged 51 and above. A third of them were missing 30 grams of protein from their daily diet, which is the equivalent of over half of the recommended intake for an adult who weighs 160 pounds or 72.6 kilograms.
The Food and Drug Administration suggests that most US adults require 50-60 grams of protein daily; however, this varies based on age, sex, health status, and activity levels. The image illustrates an example of a daily diet that provides 60g of protein. When presented with this image, students at the Institute of Design identified several obstacles to achieving their daily protein intake based on their personal experiences.
Firstly, consuming the volume of food required to meet their protein goals can be daunting for those who have a small appetite. Secondly, the cost of purchasing protein-rich foods like fish, meat, and tofu for each meal poses a financial challenge. Thirdly, managing and preparing protein-rich meals demands time and effort, which can be challenging for students. Lastly, the allure of unhealthy foods is strong. Resisting favorite indulgences and consistently opting for healthier choices can induce stress.
People require a more effective means of reaching their daily protein intake targets. To tackle these obstacles, we've developed an affordable protein source that empowers consumers to meet their protein goals with small portions. This versatile solution can seamlessly enhance a variety of foods, from smoothies and burgers to pancakes, offering a convenient and hassle-free approach.
Sustainable Super Protein And Why It Is Viable
Simple add-on to your favorite foods
The sustainable super protein is a seamless complement to your preferred dishes. This tasteless powder instantly dissolves in water, and a mere spoonful delivers 30g of protein. Blend it with your favorite foods without resisting your favorite indulgences.
Sustainable alternative to livestock farming
In contrast to traditional livestock farming, insect farming offers a significantly more sustainable approach regarding water usage, space requirements, and the emission of CO2 and methane gases. To illustrate, when producing equivalent protein amounts, chickens discharge 75% more carbon dioxide, while cows release 80% more methane in comparison to crickets.
Factory Tour Part 1: How Insects Are Grown
Welcome to Part 1 of the Sustainable Super Protein factory tour! In this segment, we'll guide you through a scaled-down representation of our insect farms, known as CEAs (Controlled Environment Agriculture), strategically located in key cities across the US. In those facilities, we consider insects’ lives and their experiences at the center of our focus, and we call this an insect-centered approach. Imagine yourself stepping into the CEA room, being surrounded by millions of crickets thriving in their controlled environment.
Step 1: Starting the production line based on demand
This is the starting point of our production! Based on the requests submitted by our partner clients, we estimate future demand and automatically calculate how many insect eggs(shown as rice grains in the photo) we need to incubate. We ensure that we do not waste any insect lives, so we only farm based on demand. With insects having a short life cycle (crickets have approximately 6 weeks of life cycle), we are able to realize the demand-based operation model.
The video introduces the interfaces that our employees interact with when estimating the demand and explains the automation logic.
Step 2: Farming insects in the best possible environment
This is what our controlled environment looks like! You can see the fascinating sight of insect eggs hatching and witness their daily growth progression. We divide insects into boxes based on their birthdays and call each box a “unit.” Each unit is equipped with several sensors and monitoring cameras that keep track of insect health conditions. Through the user interfaces displayed below, you can get a sense of the variables our employees are monitoring. While most variables are automatically optimized, our employees take action when they identify sick insects. We ensure that we provide an insect-centered, the best possible environment for our insects.
Step 3: Humanely process insects into powder
We acknowledge that we are killing a lot of insects to produce protein powder, which we consider an unavoidable consequence as of now. However, we ensure that we process them as humanely as possible. By lowering the temperature, we put the insects into a hibernation state, then quickly freeze them to kill them, and finally grind them up to make protein powder. The time it takes to reach this stage from step 1 varies depending on the insect, but in the case of farming crickets, it takes approximately 6 weeks.
Factory Tour Part 2: Our Strategy
While the concept of insect-based protein powder holds promise in theory, we acknowledge that translating it into reality presents considerable challenges. Recognizing the prevailing stigma against edible insect consumption is crucial. In November 2022, in Japan, where attempts to introduce edible insects faced backlash. A Japanese high school faced parental criticism after offering insect-based croquettes for lunch, with complaints suggesting concerns about students being forced to consume them. Despite being an optional choice, this incident underscores the prevalent stigma against insect eating. In this section, we outline our strategic approach to effectively implement our protein powder while actively combating this deeply ingrained stigma.
Roadmap
Below presents both the summary and the detailed versions of our roadmap, which consists of 4 phases.
Phase 1
Build Connection, Acquire Customer Base
Certain pet food companies, like Yora and Wilder Harrier, have already ventured into providing insect-based pet food options. Our initial approach involves collaborating with these established brands or other pet food companies that express an inclination towards insect-based offerings. Our cricket-based protein powder would be extended to these partners. In an ideal scenario, we aspire to craft a novel genre of insect-based pet foods characterized by exceptional taste and the ability for both pets and their owners to partake in the experience.
The photo was retrieved from Green solutions website
Phase 2
Educate The Masses, Eliminate Stigmas
Once we establish our customer base, we proactively address stigma through education. We collaborate with renowned restaurants and stores to create enticing dishes using our protein powder, dispelling misconceptions linked to insect consumption and poverty. Subsequently, partnerships with respected institutions like the Chicago Field Museum allow us to organize pop-up events, easing psychological barriers and promoting insect-based protein understanding. This multifaceted approach aims to reshape public perception before product release.
Phase 3
Embed Cricket-Eating Culture in Retailers
The next phase entails partnering with retailers to make our products accessible to consumers. Our strategy includes collaboration with sustainability-focused grocery chains like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Foxtrot, alongside local stores. They can sell our protein powder or incorporate it into their pre-cooked offerings. We check their inventory information on a regular basis to optimize resource usage and prevent waste. Furthermore, we establish a mutually beneficial arrangement by procuring food waste from partner companies to nourish our insects.
Phase 4
Build Infrastructure
The final step involves extensive product distribution. We establish partnerships with diverse entities, ranging from schools to airline companies, local prisons, and food-insecure communities. Our pricing strategy reflects varying socio-economic contexts our partners are in, offering free supply to food-insecure communities while charging commercial entities like airlines, for example.
Also, we are committed to empowering marginalized groups, such as incarcerated individuals. We offer on-the-job training and post-release job placements. This approach not only ensures wide product accessibility across various sectors but also aims to rectify power imbalances and give back to the community.
Roadmap at a glance
Service Blueprint
The diagram provided illustrates our operational workflow, detailing the interactions with our partners to facilitate our product delivery to end consumers. Click each image to view the PDF version for a comprehensive overview.
Other Artifacts
Map of our production centers in the US. Ideally, we hope to have our production centers scattered around the US so that we can realize faster and more eco-friendly delivery.
Other companies sell whole edible grasshoppers. We encouraged visitors to try some because if they could eat the whole grasshoppers, nothing would stop them from having insect-based protein powder!
These educational posters serve a dual purpose as both advertisements and sources of inspiration. Our objective is to consistently encourage consumers to make sustainable choices. Leveraging a behavioral design approach, these posters elicit a sense of responsibility by highlighting the environmental impact of conventional livestock proteins. By choosing our product, individuals can align with their values and contribute to a better world.
Presentation Archive
This video is a recording of our final presentation. It includes presentations from other teams working on this topic and on the use of EVs in infrastructure investment opportunities.
Approach
Four Rounds of Two-Week Design Sprints
In this project involving an 11-student class, a unique design approach was adopted. Weekly, we were randomly divided into trios and assigned design prompts related to Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) or Electric Vehicles (EV), with the goal of creating sustainable and investable infrastructures. Over two weeks, we embraced Research through Design methodology, prioritizing iterative prototyping over extensive secondary research.
In this timeframe, we generated a range of deliverables, including physical or digital prototypes, system maps, analogous research, and use cases. After two weeks, group compositions were altered to prevent attachment to initial concepts and broaden perspectives. Following four sprints, we collectively selected a theme and formed a final group of six to proceed with the project.
Although I was working on the EV for three sprints out of 4, here are some deliverables we worked on while I was in the CEA team.
2. Team Formation, Concept Finalization
Once the final group was established for the final deliverable, we were tasked to select or generate two distinct concepts to pursue. We reevaluated the concepts previously developed, subjecting them to a scoring process based on our formulated design principles. As a result, we opted for two concepts: insect-based protein powder and conflict-free crops (refer to the Agro Alliance section on this website).
To refine our chosen concepts, we divided into two subgroups, each consisting of three individuals. The aim was to further develop and enhance the concepts through collaborative efforts.
An analysis of the previous prototypes revealed that for a CEA to be an investable infrastructure, it must be situated within a larger values-informed ecosystem. Our Design Principles suggest that any new CEA investable infrastructure must :
Promote justice
Ensure transparency
Decentralized food production
Foster increased resilience
Expand stakeholder networks
Create value out of that which isn’t currently valued
Shift default mindsets and behaviors around food
3. Finalizing Prototypes, Design Immersive Exhibits
In the concluding phase, we dedicated two weeks to refining our concepts and constructing prototypes, incorporating feedback received from our peers. Concurrently, we were challenged to offer an immersive presentation method that deviated from the conventional slide show. Our innovative solution involved recreating a factory tour experience, aiming to offer visitors a more tangible and immersive encounter with our work.