Lincolnshire is a massive agricultural food producer for the UK — but a new insect-based venture could be on the way.
Lincolnshire County Council’s economy and environment portfolio holder Councillor Colin Davie announced the potential news while updating members of the Environment and Economy Scrutiny Committee on the latest investment news for the county on Tuesday.
Telling councillors that interest in the food sector, including the Holbeach and South Lincolnshire Food Enterprise Zones, remained “very, very strong”, he added: “One example of an emerging area is an interest in protein-based foods.
“This is protein sourced both as a by-product of vegetable production, but also from insects fed on waste products.
“This market is attracting global interest from as far away as China and it is an area of significant academic attention.”
“We are dealing with such interest in Lincolnshire at the moment and I’m sure I’ll have more to say in the future,” he said.
Insect farms are seen to be more sustainable than meat and fish, due to a minimal environmental footprint.
Many see it as a potential replacement for meat and other protein sources as the population grows and food production is limited.
Internationally, bugs have been on the menu in many countries and cultures for hundreds of thousands years.
Following the meeting, Councillor Davie confirmed to Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Jaines that the interest was from both a production and a research point of view.
He said the alternative foods industry would be “very significant” in future.
“There is interest because of what Lincolnshire offers in terms of the agri-food sector generally on an international basis – robotics innovation, artificial intelligence.
“Companies in this field are looking at Lincolnshire as a potential site for investment and we’re very hopeful that one of those will be able to make an announcement shortly,” he said.
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Nominations are open for schools and education settings to be recognised in the 2022 Lincolnshire Education Excellence Awards.
The event is organised by Stonebow Media, publishers of The Lincolnite, to celebrate the best school and teachers in Greater Lincolnshire.
The headline sponsors making the awards possible are Lincoln College Group.
Twelve categories are now open for nominations. The deadline for nominations is June 3, with a judging lunch scheduled for June 7.
Nominations are open from parents, carers, friends, families or education settings themselves, so if you know someone who deserving of winning now is the time to vote!
The awards ceremony will be held at the Engine Shed on July 7.
It’s been a week since the controversial statue of Margaret Thatcher was installed in Grantham’s St Peter’s Hill.
The £300,000 bronze monument immediately caused a stir and debate from both supporters and opponents of the first female Prime Minister of the UK.
Within hours of its 7am installation last Sunday, it had already been egged by a man later revealed to be 59-year-old Jeremy Webster, a deputy director at the Attenborough Arts Centre at the University of Leicester.
Mr Webster’s mother-in-law recently described his actions as “childish”.
Quoted in the MailOnline she said: “Margaret Thatcher lasted a long time in power. She was a trailblazer as the first woman prime minister and she had such energy, even though I know she slept very little.
“I’m very surprised to hear about all of this [egg throwing]. I’m going to have to call my daughter. I wouldn’t have thought Jeremy would be the sort of person to do this. It seems very childish to me – he has a responsible job.”
There have been reports of other antisocial behaviour taking place including people urinating up the statue, but investigations into these are yet to be confirmed by officials.
Away from the statue itself, others took to social media to react to the new monument.
Twitterer @BolsoverBeast thought Mr Webster’s actions should be expanded as a way to… get more people involved?
I think it would be a good idea to put Thatcher’s statue on a low loader and tow it slowly around the country so that we all have a chance to throw something at it. pic.twitter.com/uftMqr0LgR
— Chloe Schlosberg (@ChloeSchlosberg) May 19, 2022
Some called back to the fate of other statues
@Irritatedllama called back to the fate of slave trader Edward Colston who was thrown into the Bristol Harby in June 2020.
It's absolutely disgraceful that people are throwing eggs at the Margaret Thatcher statue in Grantham! We need to deploy a taskforce to give it jolly good wash!#Granthampic.twitter.com/RKftKUls4u
It wasn’t long before a parody account of the statue was set up on Twitter – nor before “she” was interacting with other parody accounts.
It was awful. I could see almost all of Grantham
— That Statue of Thatcher (@thatcher_statue) May 18, 2022
A… positive view?
There were supporters of the statue, however, Darren Grimes from GBNews was one of the few popular posts calling on people not to “give in to threats of petty vandalism”. He later posted the statue should be in parliament – where it was previously rejected from.
I honestly think Margaret Thatcher would have found this first round of petty vandalism of her statue to be utterly hilarious.
The statue looks absolutely glorious.
Almost a decade on from her passing, she’s still winding them up!
Some, like @Jonnyhibberd were more measured in their response.
I don't see a problem with a Thatcher statue and I also don't see a problem with people throwing eggs at it. Thatcher is an important part of our history, and so is what a lot of people thought about her.
— Jonathan Hibberd 🇺🇦 (@Jonnyhibberd) May 18, 2022
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