Indiana University Indianapolis researchers are tackling one of Earth’s biggest challenges — food security and climate responsiveness — with one of its smallest assets: insects. Supported by a three-year, $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Global Centers program, they will develop sustainable and scalable solutions aimed at shifting traditional agriculture toward a bio-based model using insects.
While insects are already used as a sustainable protein alternative for human food and animal feed products, the researchers believe they can do much more. The project brings together biologists, earth scientists, social scientists, economists and humanists who will work collaboratively with global academic and industry partners to highlight the important role insect farming can play in the biomanufacturing industry.
“We are exploring all the different ways we can diversify the industry so that it is not just about producing protein, but it is looking at all parts of the insect and what it can do,” said Christine Picard, associate dean for research and graduate education in the IU School of Science in Indianapolis, professor of biology and principal investigator of the project. “We can manipulate insects genetically to be little manufacturing plants, and then raise them in a sustainable fashion using closed-loop agriculture with valued-added components that can be extracted from the insect.”
Picard is recognized globally for her work with insects. Much of her career has focused on blow flies, including their usefulness in forensic investigations and their ability to be used as environmental remote sensors — even helping to detect chemical weapons. But her focus has shifted to insects as a sustainable source of protein.
In 2021, Picard became IU Indianapolis’ site director of the Center for Environmental Sustainability Through Insect Farming. A collaboration with Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Mississippi State University, researchers work with industry partners to explore the use of insects as food and feed within agriculture as a response to overpopulation, climate change and a shrinking food supply. This new project will leverage the center’s infrastructure to develop value-added products from insect harnessing,
According to Picard, it is easy to manipulate insects both biologically and genetically, allowing them to contribute to the bioeconomy in many ways. This could include introducing a gene that makes the insects produce something specific, like molecules to combat resistant bacteria in crops or micronutrients that can increase plant growth.
Gabriel Filippelli leads IU’s Environmental Resilience Institute and the Sustaining Earth Consortium at IU Indianapolis. As a co-principal investigator on the project, he will examine the impact of an insect-based food system on carbon emissions, water and fertilizer use, and the recycling of organic waste, as well as the potential uptake in harmful chemicals in the environment, which could be in stark contrast to our current agriculture-based food system.
“We can’t keep producing protein to consume the way we are now because we don’t have the resources, and our planet suffers,” said Filippelli, a Chancellor’s Professor of Earth Sciences in the School of Science. “We need to rethink how we survive and thrive into the future. We foresee a world that is much more sustainable and circular, with insect-based systems being a piece of it.”
The project focuses on the idea of raising insects sustainably, feeding them with food waste or other waste products not incorporated into our current agricultural systems. The researchers hope to shed light on how much food waste is generated on our planet and start developing ways that communities of all sizes can recycle food waste effectively.
“A dream of mine is to see little sheds located in managed neighborhoods where people come once a week to drop off their food scraps, which then gets fed to the insects,” Picard said. “This diverts it from a landfill, and then the insects themselves can be used, too — whether that means feeding someone’s backyard chickens or using their waste materials as organic fertilizer in a community garden.”
Jason Kelly, the director of the IU Indianapolis Arts and Humanities Institute and professor of history in the IU School of Liberal Arts, will examine how to bring society together as a whole to understand this emerging industry.
“Science does an amazing job of helping us understand the problem and the potential solutions, but to implement any solution, we have to walk hand in hand with society and culture,” said Kelly, a co-principal investigator on the project. “We are entering a period in which we may not have the ability to feed people as we have over the last 50 years or so, and we need to think about why that is the case and how we address it. This is one of those ways.”
Kelly will build on the success of the “Rivers of the Anthropocene” project, which brought together scientists, policymakers and humanists to think about the issue of water. He plans to publish a sequel to that book, which will focus on insects.
IU Indianapolis graduate students will be actively involved in this project, joining a growing group of students on campus who are focused on insect farming. Additionally, the McKinney Climate Fellows program will place students in food-related industries to help with community engagement.
Jeff Tomberlin of Texas A&M Agrilife Research and Heather Jordan of Mississippi State University are co- principal investigators on the project. Other IU collaborators include Jerome Dumortier, professor and director of research in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and Meghan Barrett, an assistant professor in the IU School of Science, both at IU Indianapolis.