Insect Farming for Food and Feed is not recommended as a climate solution because it offers minimal opportunities for GHG reductions and has significant down sides.
A lot of vague, even seemingly-intentionally-obscured links here, many of which don’t fully support claims or mention crucial aspects of the issue that this Analytics Consultancy glosses or ignores. Crucially:
…yeah, replacement won’t be enough, and with global warming pushing the ideal climes for various crops(particularly, nutritious staples) further away from the equator, people stuck closer to the equator need every locally-doable option they can get.
The single biggest failure the Western World keeps hitting with this is how to turn a profit, or how to get past the point on the Bell-curve where it goes from expiriment or novelty to recouping start-up investment costs. Lots of stigma in Western Markets to overcome.
EDIT: sorry all, I had thought I saw “Science Daily” in there and some other filler sites that annoy me to no-end, but still, these are mostly opinion-pieces and editorials.
References
Methods and Supporting Data
Bang, A., & Courchamp, F. (2021). Industrial rearing of edible insects could be a major source of new biological invasions. Ecology Letters, 24(3), 393-397. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13646
Biteau, C., Bry-Chevalier, T., Crummett, D., Ryba, R., & St. Jules, M. (2025a). Bugs in the system: The logic of insect farming research is flawed by unfounded assumptions. npj Sustainable Agriculture, 3(1), 9. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44264-024-00042-0
Biteau, C., Bry‐Chevalier, T., Crummett, D., Loewy, K., Ryba, R., & St. Jules, M. (2025b). Have the environmental benefits of insect farming been overstated? A critical review. Biological Reviews. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.70076
Biteau, C., Bry-Chevalier, T., Crummett, D., Ryba, R., & St. Jules, M. (2024). Is turning food waste into insect feed an uphill climb? A review of persistent challenges. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 49, 492-501. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.06.031
Bosch, G., & Swanson, K. S. (2021). Effect of using insects as feed on animals: pet dogs and cats. Journal of Insects as Food and Feed, 7(5), 795-806. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.3920/JIFF2020.0084
Ffoulkes, C., Illman, H., O’Connor, R., Lemon, F., Behrendt, K., Wynn, S., Wright, P., Godber, O., Ramsden, M., Adams, J. & Metcalfe, P. (2021). Development of a roadmap to scale up insect protein production in the UK for use in animal feed. WWF & ADAS. Link to source: https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-06/the_future_of_feed_technical_report.pdf
Halloran, A., Hanboonsong, Y., Roos, N., & Bruun, S. (2017). Life cycle assessment of cricket farming in north-eastern Thailand. Journal of Cleaner Production, 156, 83-94. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.04.017
Javourez, U., Tiruta-Barna, L., Pizzol, M., & Hamelin, L. (2025). Environmental mitigation potential of waste-to-nutrition pathways. Nature Sustainability, 8, 1-10. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01521-z
Kampmeier, G. E., & Irwin, M. E. (2009). Commercialization of insects and their products. In Encyclopedia of insects (pp. 220-227). Academic Press. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-374144-8.00068-0
Lange, K. W., & Nakamura, Y. (2023). Potential contribution of edible insects to sustainable consumption and production. Frontiers in Sustainability, 4, 1112950. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2023.1112950
Leipertz, M., Hogeveen, H., & Saatkamp, H. W. (2024). Economic supply chain modelling of industrial insect production in the Netherlands. Journal of Insects as Food and Feed, 10(8), 1361-1385. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1163/23524588-00001036
Malila, Y., Owolabi, I. O., Chotanaphuti, T., Sakdibhornssup, N., Elliott, C. T., Visessanguan, W., Karoonuthaisiri, N., & Petchkongkaew, A. (2024). Current challenges of alternative proteins as future foods. npj Science of Food, 8(1), 53. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-024-00291-w
Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360(6392), 987-992. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq0216
Schiemer, C., Halloran, A. M. S., Jespersen, K., & Kaukua, P. (2018). Marketing Insects: Superfood or Solution-Food? In A. Halloran, R. Flore, P. Vantomme, & N. Roos (Eds.), Edible insects in sustainable food systems (pp. 213-236). Springer. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74011-9_14
Suckling, J., Druckman, A., Moore, C. D., & Driscoll, D. (2020). The environmental impact of rearing crickets for live pet food in the UK, and implications of a transition to a hybrid business model combining production for live pet food with production for human consumption. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 25(9), 1693-1709. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-020-01778-w
van Huis, A. (2013). Edible insects: Future prospects for food and feed security. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Link to source: https://www.fao.org/4/i3253e/i3253e.pdf
van Huis, A. (2022). Edible insects: Challenges and prospects. Entomological Research, 52(4), 161-177. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-5967.12582
A lot of vague, even seemingly-intentionally-obscured links here, many of which don’t fully support claims or mention crucial aspects of the issue that this Analytics Consultancy glosses or ignores. Crucially:
…yeah, replacement won’t be enough, and with global warming pushing the ideal climes for various crops(particularly, nutritious staples) further away from the equator, people stuck closer to the equator need every locally-doable option they can get.
The single biggest failure the Western World keeps hitting with this is how to turn a profit, or how to get past the point on the Bell-curve where it goes from expiriment or novelty to recouping start-up investment costs. Lots of stigma in Western Markets to overcome.
EDIT: sorry all, I had thought I saw “Science Daily” in there and some other filler sites that annoy me to no-end, but still, these are mostly opinion-pieces and editorials.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ele.13646
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44264-024-00042-0
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.70076
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235255092400191X?via=ihub
https://brill.com/view/journals/jiff/7/5/article-p795_20.xml
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652617307163?via=ihub
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-025-01521-z
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/chapter/edited-volume/abs/pii/B9780123741448000680?via=ihub
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainability/articles/10.3389/frsus.2023.1112950/full
https://brill.com/view/journals/jiff/10/8/article-p1361_5.xml
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41538-024-00291-w
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaq0216
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-74011-9_14
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11367-020-01778-w
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1748-5967.12582