Solution

Soy, corn and fish meal require credible and sustainable animal feed alternatives as the food production is predicted to double in the next three decades. There are only a few possible alternatives, where black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) is one of the most credible options when it comes to production quantity, sustainability and weather resilience. Additionally BSFL can be started at a very low cost by anyone and almost with any biowaste source.

BSFL can replace soy and corn meal to provide the high protein feed necessary for chickens, pigs and many fish species to be grown economically. The BSFL have the additional benefit of eating practically anything (even manure) at an enormous rate and in condensed colonies, which make them superior to other insect species and easy to utilize even in a small setup. And as a bonus the processed biowaste can be used as a high quality fertilizer, so there is no waste stream from insect production. BSFL allows farmers and countries to become less dependent on imports and price speculation from the markets, while at the same time significantly reducing the bio waste.

Animal farmers are constantly looking for better options and are well aware of using BSF as an alternative to soy and corn, and even to fish meal. The benefits of the larvae have been proven also by scientific research and in many case studies. Because of the opportunities there are already literally tens of thousands of insect farmers, especially in developing countries, that are utilizing and selling BSF larvae. Based on a survey of facebook groups, there are over 30,000 members in the biggest BSF group alone. This has increased over 300% since 2020. The number of insect farmers are growing constantly and based on the market estimation on the animal feed need, there is a business opportunity for hundreds of thousands of insect farmers just in Africa and India alone by 2030.