Catalan insect farm aims to make bugs the 'food of the future' 

The global rise in population, the question of how to sustainably feed billions of people is more pressing than ever. One family in central Catalonia believes the answer may lie in an unconventional source: insects. 

Ruby Schreurs, along with her sister Raffaela and their parents, Frederick and Danielle, has launched an insect demo farm in Sant Salvador de Guardiola, in the Bages region. Their mission is to promote edible insects as "food of the future" and help break the taboo surrounding the consumption of bugs. 

The family, originally from the Netherlands and residents of the area for about 30 years, hopes to shift public perception through hands-on experiences. Their farm, built on their property in the Ca l'Esteve development, offers guided tours, tastings, and cooking workshops. 

"There are many people who have no idea what can be done with insects. They see one and are disgusted," says Ruby Schreurs, one of the project's founders.  

But beyond taste, Schreurs believes it's a matter of habits: "Here we eat snails, and maybe our grandparents would never have imagined that today we would eat sushi, raw fish. So maybe we should think of insects as the new snails or the new sushi."  

The Schreurs family's farm primarily raises mealworms, but other insect species, such as crickets, locusts, and dung beetles, are also approved for human consumption by Catalonia's Food Safety Agency. 

Beyond their nutritional value, insects offer major environmental advantages. "Insect farms are vertical and require very little space, and you can breed a lot," Ruby explains to the Catalan News Agency (ACN). Even their waste can be put to use. When mixed with water, insect droppings make a natural fertilizer for plants. 

The farm is supported by the Dutch social enterprise New Generation Nutrition (NGN), which specializes in insect farming. The facility itself is built from straw and includes a greenhouse for growing vegetables, workshop spaces, and even a bar area.