You might not want to eat bugs — but would you eat meat that ate bugs?
More than 8 billion flies being raised in South Africa by the startup company AgriProtein gobble 250 metric tons of food and farm waste, like corn stalks, potato peelings and damaged vegetables, every day.
Insect farming has long been promoted as the solution to these problems, in large part because bugs are very efficient at turning organic material into digestible proteins. The black soldier fly larvae favored by the “insect protein” industry can become 200 times bigger after eating organic waste for 10 days.
Protix opened one of the world’s largest insect farms in June in the Netherlands, while other producers, including Enviroflight, Ynsect and AgriProtein, are building large facilities to turn billions of insects into animal protein every month. Large farming companies like Cargill and Wilbur-Ellis are also investing in this sector.
“I’ve been to facilities that can digest 100 tons a day of waste with these insects. That’s 100 tons of waste that won’t go into a landfill. A hundred tons of waste that won’t produce greenhouse gases. A hundred tons of waste that won’t potentially pollute the soils with pathogens,” said Jeffery Tomberlin, an entomologist at Texas A&M University who has been studying the black soldier fly for over two decades.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Eat, Pray, Tail: I Wore a Tail for 1 Week and Learned NothingCongrats to former Jezebel senior writer joannarothkopf on her Emmy win with the writing staff of LastWeekTonight. Read her 2016 investigative piece about wearing a tail for a week here:
Read more »
24 Floral Wedding Cakes That Are Almost Too Beautiful to Eat24 floral wedding cakes that are almost too beautiful to eat:
Read more »
A Cheesy Beet Risotto That's *Almost* Too Pretty to EatThe tastiest way to enjoy the classic beets-and-goat-cheese duo is actually in a risotto—not a salad. LaCremaWines f52partner
Read more »
Jimmy Eat World Announce 10th Album, 'Surviving,' Release Rocking 'All The Way (Stay)': ListenSinger Jim Adkins says the album, due out Oct. 18, explores the 'different kinds of weights my ego tells me I have to carry.'
Read more »
Jimmy Eat World Preview 10th Studio Album With ‘All the Way (Stay)’See the video for Jimmy Eat World's new song “All the Way (Stay)”
Read more »