Innovafeed has announced a temporary suspension of operations at its North American Insect Innovation Center (NAIIC) in Decatur, Illinois, citing funding challenges.
According to a report in the Herald & Review in early August, Innovafeed informed customers via email that it was "pausing their production here in America for 18 months." The suspension was confirmed by Nicole Bateman, president of the Economic Development Corporation of Decatur-Macon County.
The Herald & Review reported that in the company's email to customers, Innovafeed explained: "Certain grants that would have helped with cash flow for the NAIIC (North American Insect Innovation Center) to stay open have fallen through. The budget for NAIIC to stay open was only for 18 months, but would have been extended with funding."
Strategic pause to pilot R&D activities in Decatur
In a statement to Petfood Industry, Innovafeed said the suspension represents a strategic pause and not a permanent closure.
"To clarify, [this is] simply a temporary pause of our pilot R&D activities in Decatur," said Nadège Audiffren, head of Global Communications. "Over the past 18 months, we successfully validated the potential of local corn co-products as feed for our insects. With those results in hand, we're now focusing our efforts, together with ADM, on developing the pet food market for our ingredients.
"The broader industrial project remains very much active and aligned with our long-term roadmap," Audiffren continued. "This decision is part of our phased, de-risking approach and reflects a responsible allocation of resources to ensure we stay resilient while preparing the next steps, including the scale-up site in Decatur."
Facility designed for expansion
The NAIIC opened in April 2024 as a 100,000-square-foot pilot facility designed to validate Innovafeed's technology for breeding black soldier flies using agricultural byproducts from partner ADM. The facility, which employed 10 people, was intended as a precursor to a much larger 1-million-square-foot production facility planned to open by 2026 and employ up to 300 people.
Located strategically in the heart of the Midwest corn belt, the Decatur facility was designed to process up to 300,000 tons per year of corn byproducts from ADM's adjacent operations, transforming them into 60,000 metric tons of insect-based animal feed protein annually. The partnership with ADM has been central to Innovafeed's North American expansion, with both companies working to commercialize sustainable insect protein ingredients for the growing pet food market.
Since 2023, Innovafeed and ADM have been commercializing insect ingredients under the Hilucia brand for North American pet food applications. Founded in 2016, Innovafeed operates two industrial facilities in France and has secured more than $1 billion in commercial contracts for its insect protein products across aquaculture, pet food and poultry feed markets.
