i began this project when i traveled to the ithaca farmers market to learn more about farming in new york. there, i was able to connect with justin jordan, owner of jordan farms in southern new york. justin was very kind to teach me about the barriers and difficulties of farming that have stemmed from overwhelming industrial farming. through this project, i learned about some of the ways that small-scale farmers are financially disenfranchised.

this video is intended to be a transparent example of what it takes to transform a living animal into a cooked chicken breast. through this artistic production, we are able to acknowledge at least some of the complexity of chicken processing. although graphic, the scenes are surprisingly beautiful and shocking as we are exposed to the vivid colors and textures of slaughter. there is also an underlying theme of zero-waste, throughout the video we see various ways to use the entire bird. feet and all! 

countries like kenya will need to reimagine their food systems to feed a growing urban population with fewer farmers. as food security concerns grow for the city of nairobi, farmers like francis wachira are transforming urban lots into highly productive green spaces to raise livestock, grow vegetables, and fight climate change. cities like nairobi will depend on urban farmers like francis to produce sustainable food systems to confront this growing food security crisis.

francis dreams of a world where more urban residents produce their own food to escape poverty and fight climate change. will others adopt his model of urban farming to feed the future of nairobi? learn from francis and see how urban farming can help 2022年卡塔尔世界杯官网 .

this was late july of 2017: exhausted from farm work and eager for a break in the shade, my coworkers and i were more than happy to indulge our manager in watching this menacing-looking fly lay her eggs.

the university farm in sewanee can afford these small breaks and experiments. subsidized by the university of the south, the farm was reestablished in 2012 as a research and hands-on learning opportunity for undergraduate students, like christopher hornsby, who has been intentionally breeding these ‘black soldier flies’ on the farm for over two years, harvesting their maggots.

these flies’ larvae are grown on a commercial scale across the united states for fish and chicken feed, but chris’s project focuses on what the larvae can feed on: once hatched, these larvae fatten for two weeks before emerging as adults, eating twice their own weight every 20-24 hours. to chris, and to many small farmers, this can be an invaluable service. reducing whatever mass of food waste given to them by ninety percent, the flies would expedite the university’s composting process by weeks, if not months, and allow the farm to accept 400-500 pounds of food waste from sewanee’s dining facilities every day.

an impressive metabolism hardly signifies the soldier fly as unique; most larvae can consume a large amount compared to their own mass. but many species’ adult flies can damage the local environment or become a nuisance to humans if their populations get out of hand, so it took a few weeks of research for chris to find the right fit for sewanee’s ecosystem.

“they’re very harmless,” chris explained; “when it becomes an adult fly it sheds the inner lining of its gut, expelling any hazardous microorganisms. and it loses its mouth. so it’s got no mouth, meaning it’s not a disease vector,  it’s not a crop pest, and they won’t swarm in houses, usually, unless you’ve got a mountain of food waste in there. and they die after two to three days.” he paused momentarily, and added almost as an afterthought,  “they’re also native to the entire western hemisphere. ”

but even this fly isn’t perfect. according to a pair of uga entomologists’ research from 1984, 99.6% of egg-laying takes place from 81.5° to 99.5°, and the university of windsor released a study from 2010 suggesting that the larvae’s ideal developmental environment has about 70% relative humidity. although a tennessee july easily provides these conditions, only tropical climates can host them year-round. the seasonality of the larvae may not be a problem to small farmers hoping to establish their own backyard colony because most agricultural systems dwindle as winter encroaches, anyway. but at sewanee, the converse is true: winter is when all 2,000 students are huddled together in the same dining hall, and it’s when the farm grows the most greens and accepts the most food waste. so chris’s project comes down to controlling climate, which would allow the flies’ reproduction and developmental cycle to continue through the farm’s busiest season.

chris and carolyn have worked on multiple prototypes for smaller weather-controlled breeding boxes, but in the summer of 2017 the university’s domain management raised a pole barn for the farm to house tractors, large equipment, and gave them the space to accommodate a room full of soldier flies. so chris’s project has shifted from research to construction, as he tries to plan and prepare an insulated and vermin-proof home for his maggots.

“i don’t know how to vermin-proof a building, but i’m learning. but it’s just me, and i can’t do that kind of construction on my own. if i had more time and more people and more skills… it would all be very helpful.”

since he graduates in 2019, chris’s project might not be completed soon enough for him to see it. with preliminary research finished and finding success in smaller-scale larvae breeding, now he needs to build the larvae a home. as a full-time student he can only work eight hours a week on the farm, which limits a project that is now so contingent on major construction work.

however close his graduation looms, he is confident that another student will bear the torch after him. once it’s finished, he sees sewanee’s waste management system as a model that can be used by other small farms across the country, like bill keener’s sequatchie cove farm.

keener, a dairy, poultry, and vegetable farmer outside of sewanee, is intrigued by chris’s work. sold at first by the prospect of self-producing chicken feed, he’s now hoping to do research about a small-scale implementation of a soldier fly colony in his farmland.

“maybe i could find an easy and big enough source of food waste to feed them with. maybe i could talk to local public schools.”

keener typically feeds his hogs excess whey from his dairy operation, and if the public school falls through as a food source, he may be able to use the whey as a substrate for soldier fly growth. the soldier flies would create an organic alternative to grain chicken feed, which would lower the price of his organic eggs and increase his competitivity in the local organic market.

“i think it’s a good project for me. for a homestead, it’d just make sense.”

that’s pretty heavy news to stomach with your burger, but the evidence is mounting. according to the food and agriculture organization of the un, 14.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions come from the production of livestock.  

our current world population is hovering around 7.5 billion people, but more than 800 million of which are dealing with hunger – or, one in nine. and even more — one in three — are suffering from malnutrition.

this seemingly contradicts reports, like this study from mcgill university and university of minnesota, that show we grow enough food to feed 10 billion people.

you may wonder how those going hungry can get their piece of the agriculture pie — and where all that extra food is going.

researchgate reports that a majority of crops such as wheat and corn, are used in the creation of biofuels and the cultivation of livestock. from an outsider’s point of view, it appears wealthy countries have prioritized the meat and automobile industries over feeding those in need.  

perhaps surprisingly, it’s not the availability of food that causes world hunger but, rather, poverty. the un-fao also found that most of the world’s poor population lives in rural areas in which they are subsistence farmers, meaning they only produce enough for their family to survive — and that’s only if everything goes right during the growing season.

demand and resource usage

so how does eating meat contribute to global poverty and, hence, global hunger? it comes down to supply and demand. as developed countries and developing countries continue to demand more meat, farmers will need to utilize more land to fulfill these needs.  

the un-fao reports 33% of all cropland is used for livestock feed, as well as 26% of all the earth’s ice-free land is used for grazing purposes. to provide the heavily demanded animal products, the livestock industry also uses one third of the earth’s freshwater supply, according to the proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america.

as more land and water is utilized to create animal products, that creates a scarcity in land and water for poor people in developing countries. this scarcity causes the prices of land and water to increase, making it harder for poor populations to gain access to these resources.   

if the western world wants to solve the problem of world hunger, we must correct our own eating habits first. the more meat we demand on a regular basis means that there is less food and water available on the earth. it takes about 1,799 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef — the equivalent of about 22 bathtubs full of water, or more than three weeks of baths every day — according to food tank. in comparison, the 108 gallons of water it takes to make one pound of corn doesn’t seem so bad.

the meat industry isn’t just a strain on the water supply, it is also a strain on the atmosphere as well. one ton of methane gas has the same greenhouse effect as 23 tons of carbon dioxide. and according to the conversation: “around 1.6-2.7 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases each year, mostly methane, are produced from livestock digestion. another 1.3-2.0 billion tonnes of nitrous oxide come from producing feed for livestock. and the final 1.6 billion tonnes comes from land use changes, such as clearing for animal pastures.”

what can we do about it?

in a perfect world, upon learning this, everyone would eat a vegan diet to use less of the earth’s resources, and increase the availability of said resources to those who are starving, while simultaneously cutting greenhouse gas emissions. of course, worldwide veganism is an unrealistic goal — not to mention this would cause other economic issues, based on the all the industries this change would impact.

instead, individuals could try to minimize their consumption of meat. americans, here’s a thought: maybe we don’t need beef every single day, let alone put bacon on everything.

again, we go back to supply and demand. if consumers demand less meat, those resources could be directed toward other food avenues, which increases the chances of starving populations to obtain food security.

world governments also could be taking action. a scientific analysis published in the journal nature climate change, suggests implementing an emissions tax on the meat industry would change consumption patterns.

but influencing human behavior is a difficult task. egalitarians may take personal responsibility for the impact our eating habits have on others and the earth. however, it is just as unrealistic to expect a worldwide adoption of veganism as it is to assume most individuals would consider their daily actions through an egalitarian lens.  

however, if we truly want to help ease world hunger and reduce our impact on climate change, we must modify our eating habits on an international scale – and having governments around the world adopt emissions taxes on meat is one way to help accomplish that change. 

prior to the industrial revolution, most societies did not consume meat on a daily basis, unless you’re family was amongst the elite class. only in the modern era of human consumption have we forgotten that meat is supposed to be a luxury, not a necessity. world hunger and climate change are strong reminders that such indulgences do not come without consequence.

they bite and sting me, mooch off my meals, and intrude upon my personal space. kind of like my roommate.

some of them are creepy, crawly and often found in dirty, smelly places. every time i see a bug, i am disgusted and annoyed.

eating them seems taboo too, but many cultures think the opposite.

in thailand, for example, locals find bugs tasty and nutritious. street carts give buyers a wide range of choices, similar to walking into a candy store. some of the crowd favorites include grasshoppers (which taste like crispy chicken), water bugs (more like licorice), and silk worms (with a familiar nutty taste). though i may be skeptical, 2 billion people eat 1,900 bug types as part of their regular diet. i can’t see myself hating all of them.

still despite the variety, bugs have not yet captured american hearts and stomachs. can this change?

one person who hopes so is andrew zimmer, host of bizarre foods. while i may not take up zimmer’s recommendation of dung beetles, the most bizarre thing about the show is the normalcy of insect based meals in certain parts of the world. in fact, he says most cultures find some aspects of western diets bizarre.

“why do we let milk rot and dry into squares and call it cheese?” zimmer asks. “many aspects of our dining and eating life leave the rest of the world shaking their heads.”

“i stand by the position that anyone who tried half the stuff we see on our travels would become a convert to many foods that only appear strange but taste delicious.”

but i’m not like zimmer. i tend to stick to eating what i’m used to…unless there is some other value to having a wider culinary palette.

did someone say, ‘it can help save the planet!?’ you had my curiosity, now you got my attention. and it’s true. let me walk you through.

over the next few decades, we’ll need to produce enough protein for billions more mouths while also limiting our impact on the earth’s climate. insects could be our savior. a single kilogram of feed yields 12 times more cricket protein than beef protein. 

insects could also reduce emissions. livestock accounts for about 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than planes, trains, and automobiles combined. on the other hand, insects could reduce these emissions by 60 percent. insects also don’t need as much land and water so they would be cheaper and more plentiful.

of course, while saving the planet is nice and all, i would like to eat a healthy alternative as well. and insects deliver once again. not only do most non-americans find them delicious, but they are also high in protein, less fattening, and high in vitamins and minerals. can i still avoid them after all this?

maybe one day, i’ll see a bug and be fascinated rather than disgusted. maybe one day, i’ll see a bug and be appreciative of its role in our ecosystem rather than a disease spreading pest. maybe one day.

for now i can keep my irrational hatred toward bugs, but still enjoy them as a sustainable substitute for beef.

eric osman is a senior majoring in journalism at the george washington university.