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Australia: Are city insect farms the protein providers of the future?

Tim Schubert and his son Zachery hope to eventually breed their crickets for human consumption.(Supplied: Zachery Schubert)

He’s also looking at ways to work with Indigenous communities to farm insects that have been traditionally eaten in those regions, for the commercial market.

By Grace Whiteside, Anita Ward
Landline
Sept 14, 2019

Excerpt:

Broadly there are only two challenges holding our insect industry back — knowledge of which insects we can eat, and then convincing the public they’re a worthy alternative to the proteins we know.

Dr Lessard is tackling the first. He’s working with an industry group and looking at 60 native insect species traditionally eaten by aboriginal people across Australia.

He’s analysing their nutritional content, as well as things like how quickly they grow and how energy-intensive they are to raise.

“It’s assumed insects are better for the environment than traditionally farmed meat, but realistically there’s not a lot of data on that,” Dr Lessard said.

“Part of our research is to look at the energy inputs in controlling temperature and humidity and other [environmental factors].”

Crickets and other larvae are proving promising, and have the added bonus that they can be reared using food waste — things like bananas that are rejected because they’re too bent or blemished.

“You’re closing the loop. Not only is it reducing the carbon footprint of farmed insects but you’re diverting food waste from landfill,” Dr Lessard said.

And Bogong moths could be good to farm as well. But other well-known insects like witjuti grubs might not make the cut.

“[They live] in acacia roots and can take years to develop,” Dr Lessard said.

Read the complete article here.