Conquering hunger, revolutionizing agriculture, and profiting... with bugs

Inc. profiles Glen Courtright and his company EnviroFlight:

His first idea: Launch a biodiesel business. He would make fuel out of oil from local restaurants and food-processing plants. But after researching the idea, raising capital, and building a production facility, Courtright pulled the plug in 2008, when availability of the oil proved unreliable.

But Courtright kept turning the idea over in his mind. What else on the planet makes fats and oils for biodiesel? "I looked at enzymes," he recalls. "Nah, too hard. I'm not a bacteriologist. I looked at algae. That was probably a 20-minute no-go decision. Then it hit me: bugs. They're easy to grow. At least, I thought they were." But after toying with the notion of using bugs for fuel, Courtright got a better idea: Use the protein and fat in bugs to feed the planet, not power it.