Cargill Innovation Center (CIC) in Dirdal in Rogaland, Norway, has expanded Oltesvik facility from four to 12 cages with a NOK 15 million (USD 1.4 million) investment.

CIC Dirdal has an equally large facility in Gråttnes, also with 12 cages. With this expansion, the company has significantly increased its capacity to run trials. Oltesvik has increased its total allowed biomass from 910 tonnes to 1,400 tonnes. Although the maximum capacity for both sites remains at 1,560 tonnes, the increase will mean significantly better flexibility.

“We now have the opportunity to carry out advanced nutritional trials on an almost full scale. It is something completely different since until now, we have often been limited to comparing a test diet with a reference diet. We don't necessarily get to carry out more trials, but the information from the trials we carry out becomes much more valuable,” said Terje Utne, responsible for field trials in Cargill Norway.

Utne looks forward to adopting experimental designs that explore extremes so that the company can model effects in between. “This provides a significantly better starting point for continuously adapting our feeds according to raw material price, raw material availability, salmon price, customer request and more,” the company said.

“Cargill Innovation Center in Dirdal puts a lot of effort into the development of feed with stable and high performance produced from safe raw materials. With state-of-the-art facilities and world-class researchers, the innovation center in Dirdal lays the foundation for Cargill to offer its customers advice and top-class fish feed. It contributes to new and more sustainable feed for aquaculture in Norway, which has received an even greater focus than before as the government has now made sustainable feed a national societal mission. This requires even greater effort and collaboration, and Cargill is prepared to contribute,” R&D director, Tor Andre Giskegjerde, concluded.