Research ecologist Phil Taylor says Americans are great at the farm-to-table side of the food equation “but we’re really bad at table to farm” – converting food waste into material that will produce a new round of food. Maggots are the answer, the University of Colorado researcher told Harvest Public Media.
At a start-up called Mad Agriculture, Taylor breeds thousands of black soldier flies to produce larvae that chow down on discarded food. When the insects reach the proper size and weight, they are killed and fed to backyard chickens. Leftover castings make good fertilizer, Taylor told Harvest Media. He envisions a future when tons of the fly larvae are used as protein at large-scale chicken or fish farms.
“Black solder flies are becoming the hot new feed ingredient,” says Harvest Media, with companies in the United States, Canada and South Africa feeling the buzz. A Texas A&M entomologist says there could be a dual benefit: a new, lower-cost ingredient for livestock feed and less discarded food that goes to landfills. The FDA does not allow insect-based protein powder to be used in feed “but those in the industry say they’re lobbying hard for changes to allow for more insect-based ingredients,” says Harvest Media.