St. Louis agriculture technology company Benson Hill (NYSE: BHIL) has teamed up with a seafood producer to provide what the companies say is a more sustainable feedstock for fish.
Idaho-based Riverence Holdings LLC, a land-based producer of steelhead and rainbow trout, is using Benson Hill’s plant-based soy ingredients to create fish feed that the two companies contend is cheaper and more energy efficient to make than alternatives. Financial terms of their partnership were not disclosed.
Riverence last year started testing Benson Hill’s soy ingredients and incorporating them into its fish feed, Benson Hill CEO Matt Crisp said. Through their partnership, the companies say “less-processed and deforestation-free ingredients” are being used in aquaculture production.
“Benson Hill has developed soy ingredients that are uniquely suited for aquaculture and checks all the boxes from a nutrition, sustainability and cost perspective,” said Jesse Trushenski, chief science officer of Riverence. “It’s exciting to have a product designed for our market that supports improved performance of our fish, is traceable, and has a very clean carbon and water profile. We decided to incorporate Benson Hill’s ingredients again this year and believe it’s the beginning of a long and valuable partnership.”
Founded in 2012, Benson Hill, which describes itself as a "food tech company," has developed technology, called CropOS, that uses data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning to help improve crop varieties with better accuracy, nutritional value and sustainability than traditional breeding methods. Its two major business units are its ingredients division, which develops and commercializes ingredients for the plant-based foods and animal feed markets, and its fresh segment focused on producing healthier produce.
For Benson Hill, Crisp said its partnership with Riverence is an example of its ultimate goal: to have its ingredients used to produce sustainable food products that can be purchased by consumers.
“We now are able to supply consumers through partners like Riverence with a product that is more sustainably grown, that’s traceable, that’s domestically source, that’s non-GMO and you can drive down the street and get it. That’s pretty cool,” Crisp said.
Benson Hill said its soy ingredients need “up to 70% less water and up to 50% less CO2e [carbon dioxide equivalent] to produce” than other domestically made alternatives. In regard to the aquaculture industry, which involves producing seafood in controlled environments, Crisp said Benson Hill is targeting a larger market opportunity beyond just its partnership with Riverence.
“It’s the first commercial partnership in the space where we’ve sort of pulled the curtain back and said, 'Hey, we’re open for business and we’ve got a really unique and material value proposition to offer this industry.' It’s not just domestically. Europe, South America and Asia — these are all markets that produce a good amount of fish,” Crisp said. “We view all of these as market opportunity areas for growth.”
That strategy comes as global aquaculture production has ballooned in recent years. A study from the Food and Agriculture Organization reports aquaculture production increased 527% between 1990 and 2018.
Benson Hill, which went public in September 2021, reported a third-quarter 2021 net loss of $34.3 million on revenue of $32 million. That compares with a net loss of $16.9 million on revenue of $28.2 million in the third quarter of 2020.
