About us
The National Observatory on Insect Farming (ONEI) informs and guides the decisions of the sector's stakeholders.
Our mission
We provide solid scientific resources to inform discussions related to this emerging industry.
Our story
Faced with the environmental challenges confronting the world, we have long been interested in solutions to make the food system more sustainable. This led us to explore insect farming, a rapidly growing sector that has garnered over two billion euros in funding. However, throughout our research, we saw the difficulty in finding reliable information in this field. Given the limited number of independent sources based on scientific literature, journalists, policymakers, and the public had few resources to turn to.
We therefore decided to create the first independent structure in France dedicated to providing information on this growing industry. Our work, in collaboration with The Insect Institute and several other international researchers, has resulted in the writing of five scientific articles on the environmental and economic impact of insect farming. These articles have already been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, such as Sustainable Production and Consumption, Food and Humanity, and npj Sustainable Agriculture (part of the Nature group).
We remain available to decision-makers, journalists, investors, and any other stakeholders who wish to learn more about this field.
Our association is entirely independent and relies on the support of individual donors and philanthropists, without any commercial or industrial influence. This guarantees the absence of conflicts of interest, thus preserving the integrity of our research. ONEI is a non-profit association under the French law of 1901.
Main contributors to our research work
Corentin Biteau
President and co-founder of ONEI, Corentin Biteau is a researcher on social and environmental impact issues. He is the primary author of scientific articles on the economic and ecological impacts of insect farming, published in several scientific journals in collaboration with The Insect Institute. Co-author of the book "Taking Action for a Sustainable World" (in French) and public speaker, he is also vice president of the International Alliance for Sustainable Development Goals and has created a series of workshops on Effective Ecology.
Tom Bry-Chevalier
Scientific advisor to ONEI, Tom Bry-Chevalier is a doctoral student in environmental economics at the University of Lorraine and the Climate Economics Chair (Dauphine - PSL). Affiliated with AgroParisTech-INRAE and BETA, he studies the environmental and economic challenges of alternative proteins. He is the author of several media articles on insect farming, notably in The Conversation, as well as several scientific papers.
Our volunteer team
Several volunteer members actively contribute to the life of ONEI. Their contributions help us in our mission to share information, particularly in terms of translation, project management and editing.
Our upcoming research
We are working on popularization articles to make current scientific knowledge on the ecological impact of insect farming more accessible. Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified as soon as it's available.
You can also discover the challenges of the sector, and contact us.