Farmers uncover surprising potential in insect waste for growing essential crops: 'It's exciting for so many reasons'
Fly poop may be the next generation of composting, according to the BBC.
Black soldier fly larvae are able to digest four times their own body mass in organic matter every day. Some farms are leveraging their excrement, frass, as a rich agricultural soil amendment.
"We could make compost out of anything but the impact of running it through this insect biology has all of these [positive] implications," said Oregon wine farmer Mimi Casteel, per the BBC.
"It's exciting for so many reasons: It's a portable, pretty low-cost investment compared to some other things that we're considering as part of dealing with our massive problems with waste, and soldier flies are replacing a missing layer of diversity," Casteel continued.
One of the major benefits of applying frass to cropland is that the benefits propagate on their own. After enough applications, more frass isn't necessarily needed as beneficial microbes procreate.
Anecdotal results show that plants are growing more quickly and with greater cellular structure when frass is applied to the soil, though the results of a long-term study are still on the way. Industrial agricultural practices have significantly degraded soil quality, so regenerative practices are needed, even if only to maintain yields.
The promise of frass has attracted bipartisan government support. The Fertilizer Production Expansion Program has provided funding to three farms working on producing frass. With dramatic declines in insect populations, one of those manufacturers, Chapul Farms, sees an opportunity to repair a degrading part of our ecosystems.
"Ultimately, at its core, we cannot survive without insects," said Chapul Farms CEO Pat Crowley, per the BBC. "Natural ecosystems cannot flourish ... without the insects as a part of them. And that's one of our biggest premises."
Crowley added, "It's not as simple as: insects will solve the biggest trends in global agricultural health. And at the same time, I think it's one of the biggest levers that we have in making agriculture a more resilient, ecosystem-based model."
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