Oberon FMR, Inc. is an early stage company with proprietary technology capable of producing a cost-effective, sustainably produced protein meal. Oberon’s product serves as a fish meal replacement (FMR) or additive ingredient for animal feeds, primarily those destined for the aquaculture industry. Oberon has developed the only known sustainable process for generating high quality single cell protein (SCP) meal from by-products contained in the wastewater treatment streams generated by food and beverage manufacturers.
Increasing demand for fish has exposed the limitations of the world’s fisheries, most of which have reached either their maximum production capacity or a state of decline. This supply pressure has created exceptional opportunities for the aquaculture industry, which has seen annual growth of 11% over the past three decades as wild marine fisheries collapse. However, this growth rate is itself threatened by inadequate supplies of protein for fish feed, also known as aquafeed. The protein component of aquafeed has become a significant supply constraint as prices for fish meal have more than tripled over the last decade in which Oberon has developed its unique solution. Industry experts agree that fish meal, the critical source of protein in aquafeeds, has reached its maximum production capacity at roughly 6 million tons per year.
Oberon co-founders, Drs. Andy Logan and Seth Terry, are Ph.D. specialists in bioprocess engineering, the microbiology necessary to grow SCP, and modifying wastewater treatment operations at food and beverage facilities. Pilot-scale operations were conducted for a full year at New Belgium Brewery in Ft. Collins, CO, and more recently, the Company operated a field-scale demonstration in partnership with MillerCoors in Trenton, Ohio.
Oberon has tested versions of its product on important fish species in the aquaculture industry: tilapia, shrimp, salmon, and trout. Studies in the U.S. and Europe indicate that growth on Oberon’s FMR is greater than or equal to growth on conventional protein in most cases.
What's in a name:
Oberon is a mythical character whose first appearances date back to medieval French and German literature, but whose most notable cameo occurs in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream where Oberon is king of the forest spirits. Typically, Oberon is endowed with great powers of transformation over people and objects around him. By selecting this character as namesake for the company, Oberon FMR's founders sought to channel King Oberon's transformative powers — in the company's case the ability to derive a valuable feed ingredient from an unrecognized by-product of food and beverage manufacture.