Insect Farming and the Search for Sustainable Protein

Global food security is increasingly pressured by climate change, a growing population, and widespread poverty. Future crop production must increase to meet population nutritional demand with fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Edible insect farming offers one underexplored means to improve nutrition, food security, and public health, with a reduced environmental impact. Entomophagy is common globally and has played a critical role in human nutrition throughout history.  Edible insects efficiently convert low-quality feed into body mass rich in protein, utilizing little water or land and emitting few greenhouse gases; conventional livestock production is the world’s largest source of methane. This study explores the potential for yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) minilivestock to serve as a sustainable, nutritionally complete, alternative to high-emitting traditional livestock.  The purpose of this study is to evaluate the growth rate and nutritional quality of mealworm larvae reared on feed-substrates of low nutritional quality—including corn stover, a byproduct that is readily available to many smallholder farmers. Early instar mealworm larvae were reared in a Percival Scientific Chamber to control temperature, humidity, and light. Stock culture were grown for 30 days on one of three food substrate mixtures and monitored regularly. At 30 days, mealworms were harvested and analyzed for total amino acid profile and crude protein content. Results suggest that mealworms reared on nitrogen-poor agricultural byproducts, including corn stover, grow at reduced rates, but retain comparable quantities and ratios of all essential amino acids, suggesting that the yellow mealworm could feasibly source a low-environmental impact, nutrient-dense food product.