$128,025 could be yours if you produce and sell seafood-free aquafeed.

The F3 Fish-Free Feed Challenge has been launched to encourage the development and refinement of aquafeeds that use alternative proteins and fish oil replacements. Innovation is needed to improve the cost, scalability, and nutritional performance of these feeds, while having a minimal environmental footprint. The F3 prize\'s goal is to \"showcase aquafeed companies who accelerate their sales of seafood-free alternatives\". Eventually, it is hoped that these innovations lead to a new product category for consumers, the equivalent of \'grass-fed seafood\', where seafood that is innovative and more environmentally friendly receives special attention.

The prize will go to the first company that sells 100,000 mT of seafood-free aquaculture feed OR to the company that has sold the most seafood-free aquaculture feed by the Challenge end date, September 15, 2017. This will be judged by a committee consisting of Dr. Kevin Fitzsimmons of the University of Arizona, Corey Peet of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Dr. Michael Tlusty of the New England Aquarium.

The Challenge is being crowd funded through Hero X; to-date, the challenge has received more than $75K of crowdsourced funds, with a total of $128,025. The Challenge is still accepting donations to increase the prize.

Feed companies that wish to participate must register as contestants through the F3 website by April 30, 2016. Channel partners, including ingredient suppliers, contract manufacturers, processors, distributors, formula licensees, marketers, resellers, and retailers can partner with a feed company to register.

For additional information, visit https://herox.com/F3, or contact f3fishfreefeed@gmail.com.