Acceptance of insect meal in aquaculture feeding: A stakeholder analysis for the Italian supply chains of trout and seabass

Insect meal could represent an option for partial replacement of fishmeal, the quantity and price of which are a constraint to the expansion of aquaculture. In this article, the acceptance of insect meal as a feed component among Italian farmers of trout and seabass is investigated and discussed. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with farmers, feed producers, and insect-meal producers. Then, a deductive thematic analysis has been carried out to understand which of the different variables characterizing farming structures and marketing channels can affect the choice of feed products and, as a consequence, the acceptance of insect meals. The information collected suggests to differentiate two levels of insights: the first concerns plain economic evaluation in what could be considered a standardized or theoretical environment, and is mainly related to the feed price and the feed conversion ratio. The second level takes into consideration the effects that occur in real environments and that are different depending on farm characteristics and business choices. Among the main aspects that should be considered (beyond prices and feed conversion ratio) are the final destination of the product, the processing and large retailers' requirements, the effects on digestion and feces production, and the variability of performance (as an effect of feed nutritional variability and environmental variability).