According to Celitron, there are many reasons why black soldier fly farming could greatly help our environment. It is a great alternative to sustainably provide humans and animals alike with another source of protein that has much less of a negative impact on the Earth than the traditional meat industry. This is great news for all insect farmers, as well as those looking for a more sustainable way to provide quality feed to farm animals and pets!
Black soldier fly Farming: the Need for a Sustainable Alternative
There are several environmental issues today that are cause for growing concern. Unfortunately, a lot of them go hand in hand with the traditional meat and agricultural industry.
The need to sustain the demand for protein for animals and humans alike has led to deforestation in order to make room for soybean fields used to feed farm animals, which are then used to feed an ever-growing population here on Earth. The processing of edible meats also requires a huge amount of water, and the transportation of all these animals causes a great share of today’s greenhouse gas emissions.
By 2040, the world population will reach about 9 billion people, who will all need enough protein to be healthy. Without an alternate solution, the growing environmental burden may have catastrophic consequences for all of us. Issues like overfishing will continue to raise prices and may lead to huge food shortages in the future.
How is Black Soldier Fly Farming Sustainable?
Thankfully, black soldier fly (BSF for short) farming is an already existing alternative. But how does it exactly help the current environmental issues we are all facing?
In a nutshell, the main reason why BSF farming is such a viable solution is that it requires much less land, water, and feed to be grown profitably by those working in the agricultural industry.
- To be more precise, 1 ton of black soldier fly can be grown in just 2 weeks thanks to their short life cycle, meaning they are just as able (if not more) to provide enough protein-based end-products for consumption compared to traditional sources of protein. And the best news is that you would only need about 20 square meters of space to do that since the larvae of black soldier fly like to stay close together and don’t need much room to grow.
- The overuse of water in the meat industry to produce edible meat is a very notable issue, especially in the case of beef: it takes about 15 000 liters to produce only one 1 kg of beef meat. In comparison, producing 1 kg of edible insect-based protein products requires about 150 times less water.
- Black soldier fly farming is also an ideal zero waste solution since the remains of the insects can be used as an organic fertilizer. They can also be fed on all kinds of organic waste, which means there is no need for any great investment to feed and grow the larvae. To produce one 1 kg of edible black soldier fly-based product, you would only need about 1.5 kg of feed, which is almost 7 times less than the amount of feed it takes to produce 1 kg of beef.