There are more than 7 billion people on planet Earth, with more arriving every day. Put another way, there are more people alive today than there have ever lived at one time, By 2050, that number will have risen to 9 billion, who will all have needs that make demands upon our increasingly fragile ecosystems
Food demand is expected to rise by around 50% in the next 20 years, but land for producing it is becoming increasingly scarce. Currently, over 70% of agricultural land - an area as large as the Americas - is used up farming livestock for human consumption. In addition, the costs of rearing, transporting and processing these food sources are taken into account, the enormous financial and environmental inefficiency of traditional farming methods becomes clear.
Furthermore, not all 7 billion of us get an equal share. Unaffordability, regional scarcity and lack of food security due to unfavourable socio-economic conditions mean that many people around the world often go without.
Edible insects provide a safe, tasty and reliable protein source and have many key advantages over traditional livestock. They produce minimal greenhouse gas emissions, require much less food and space, have a rapid breeding cycle and can be established with very little capital outlay or husbandry required.
In the coming years, food security and environmental changes will pose increasing challenges for the human race. Bugs for Life aims to find solutions to these problems not only for the here and now, but for the world we will inhabit in the future.
Bugs For Life proposes an alternative to traditional livestock farming that is:
Insects have formed part of the traditional diets of many cultures across the world for thousands of years, from the honeypot ants of the Aboriginal Australians to the delicious fried grasshoppers found in the cuisine of East Asia.