The challenges in farming BSF outdoors or in non-climatized spaces

Farming Black Soldier Fly (BSF) outdoors or in non-climatized spaces can present several climate-related challenges that may impact the efficiency, productivity, sustainability, and generally the business potential of the whole operation. In this article we discuss the risks in farming BSF outdoors and explain how these challenges can be tackled by using climatization technology

1. Temperature Fluctuations

• Optimal Temperature Range: BSF larvae thrive typically in temperatures between 28-32°C, with minor variations. Outdoor environments can experience significant temperature fluctuations, especially in day-to-night temperatures or seasonal changes.

• Cold Weather: In colder climates or during winter, temperatures may drop below the optimal range, slowing down larval growth and development or even causing mortality. And quite frankly in most parts of the world the temperature and environment is never even close to suitable for farming black soldier fly outdoors, even without seasonal changes.

• Heat Stress: Farming BSF in hot climates, temperatures may exceed the upper limit, leading to heat stress, reduced feeding activity and increased mortality.

2. Humidity Levels

• Moisture Requirements: BSF larvae require a moist environment for optimal growth. Outdoor conditions can lead to either excessive drying (in arid or windy conditions) or waterlogging (during heavy rains), both of which can negatively impact larval development. Even if the larvae enjoy moist growth environment, too high moisture levels make them escape or drown.

3. Seasonal Variability

• Daylight Length: BSF adults are influenced by photoperiod (day length). In regions with significant seasonal changes in daylight, the reproductive cycle of BSF may be disrupted, leading to reduced egg production.

4. Pest and Predator Pressure

• Increased Exposure: Farming BSF outdoors exposes larvae and adults to natural predators (e.g. rodents and other insects) and competitors (e.g. other fly species), which can reduce yields or contaminate the frass.

• Disease Spread: Outdoor environments may also increase the risk of disease transmission from wild insect populations or contaminated substrates.

5. Wind and Weather Extremes

• Wind: Strong winds can disperse adult flies, making it difficult to maintain a stable breeding population. Wind can also dry out the substrate quickly.

• Storms and Extreme Weather: Severe weather events, such as storms, hurricanes, or heavy snowfall, can damage infrastructure, disrupt operations, and lead to significant losses.

6. Substrate Quality and Availability

• Decomposition Rates: Temperature and humidity fluctuations can affect the rate at which organic waste decomposes. Inconsistent decomposition can lead to variability in substrate quality, affecting larval growth, length of the growth period, and eventually production predictability and the business case.

• Contamination: Outdoor substrates are more susceptible to contamination from pesticides, heavy metals, or other pollutants, which can harm BSF larvae or render the final product unsuitable for use.

7. Regulatory and Environmental Concerns

• Odor and Nuisance: Farming BSF outdoors can produce odors that may attract pests or cause nuisance to nearby communities, leading to regulatory challenges.

• Environmental Impact: If not managed properly, outdoor BSF farming can lead to nutrient runoff or contamination of local ecosystems, especially if large-scale operations are involved.

8. Business case, production planning and variations in farming inputs and outputs

All changes in the growth environment eventually impact the production planning, whether it is changing substrate quality, the growth period length, size of larvae, quality and moisture of the frass, or generally the need to manually monitor and spend working hours to adjust the production. And once you need to make changes to the set up during the growth period, the changes in production values (inputs and outputs) screws up the predictability and most often also the business case.

The basis for profitable black soldier fly farming is in achieving the same results each time with the same calculable input, the ability to calculate the input and output ratio and production value precisely, and then calculating the profit margins, especially so when using external workforce (other than yourself) or having external investors or other funding that needs to be paid back or that expect return on their investment and predictability in scaling the production up.

The solution?

All these issues could easily be tackled by using climatization technology to automatically monitor, adjust and alert to any changes in production. The technology is not free, of course, but by calculating the operation’s CAPEX and OPEX well in advance, one can easily calculate the payback time of all necessary investments, and use the calculations also to apply for external funding with clear production and business case predictability that anyone could review.

Especially if you‘re planning to expand your operations to bigger scales, such as any factory-size operation, it is of utmost importance to be able to exhibit your plans and test your production assumptions in practice before committing to the huge expenses. And with huge I mean hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars when considering a factory-size operation.

Did you just ask silently in your own head about the price of climatization? The Manna MIND climatization technology is the cheapest such technology available anywhere in the world, by far. The Manna MIND itself costs a few thousand euros, price depending on if you start with just one or several units at once, and A FULL CLIMATIZED PRODUCTION UNIT can be built as cheap as for less than 10.000 USD.

Don’t believe me? Jump to Insect Farm Hub to learn more about how to set up such facility, and about the pricing. Furthermore, on this website we introduce both, our Manna MIND climatization technology and the parts and prices of a reference module for farming BSF – our customers have such spaces in use, so we know it works. After having set up climatization to over 70 insect farming units globally, we know what we’re talking about. And yes, surely you can spend more money on setting up the production, many do, but at the cheap end, don’t have to.

My advice? Plan well, calculate to great detail, start small to test your assumptions and calculations, and scale up gradually when you’re sure you can repeat the same results each and every time. And even in the regions where black soldier fly roam free in the wild and outdoors rearing could be done, don’t, if you want to become a professional level farmer and make money with your production.