Solving World Hunger with Aphid Farms

E

ErialSneider

Registered Member
For years the U.N. has been begging the world to embrace insects as a form of protein. The problem? Aside from the gross-out factor, they can be hard to catch, and when people do find a colony they rarely think to only take as much as the insects can produce, ensuring even those trying to take advantage of the protein we are literally surrounded by, can’t. The solution? An easy and sustainable insect farm!

Now, having scoured the insect farm and algae markets, many designs either are too costly to see widespread use in third world countries(algae), or simply don’t produce enough food for the space they take up(flies).

An overlooked source of protein, carbs and amino acids, aphids, or plant lice, are a potentially unparalleled food source. It was once said that if the offspring of ONE female aphid survive the summer, there would be enough aphids to stand in military formation circumferencing the planet several times. That’s right, it’s whatever million comes after quadrillion. Now, the beautiful part is that they not only feed on plants, but there is a type of aphid for literally almost every plant on earth. Currently, the only breed available to order online are pea aphids, which eat a variety of plants, most of which are very quick germinators and reach maturity in at most two months.

Imagine we could create a sustainable ecosystem, growing our quadrillion aphids, requiring only sunlight water, and backup plants. Simply knock off some aphids when your rice needs some protein, because the little green guys reach maturity in a week, producing about 50 to 100 eggs when they do, and for parts of the year they REPRODUCE ASEXUALLY, making the management of their population even easier. Additionally, there is an aphid breed for just about every plant in the world meaning we could pick the best pair for the production of organic matter.

Now, just as an example, imagine if we could get ahold of some bamboo aphids, which are commonplace in parts of the world, a pest, and remember that bamboo grows about three feet a day. Assuming that pair would be easily sustainable, think about the potential organic matter production.
What if we could create a sustainable food source that simply requires a temperate climate, sunlight and water, well, we could feed a lot of people. The distribution of seeds, plastic containers and the pests hardly even requires much infrastructure in-country to grow and distribute. On top of that, just think, protein that doesn’t require large tracts of land, which is a major obstacle in many starving countries.

P.S. If anyone lives in Asia, I will pay to get some bamboo aphids.

P.S.S In America, the allowable number of aphids in hops is 2,500 per 10 grams, so if you are grossed out, or worried about health issues, beer is basically aphid juice.
 
ErialSneider said:
For years the U.N. has been begging the world to embrace insects as a form of protein. The problem? Aside from the gross-out factor, they can be hard to catch, and when people do find a colony they rarely think to only take as much as the insects can produce, ensuring even those trying to take advantage of the protein we are literally surrounded by, can’t. The solution? An easy and sustainable insect farm!

Now, having scoured the insect farm and algae markets, many designs either are too costly to see widespread use in third world countries(algae), or simply don’t produce enough food for the space they take up(flies).

An overlooked source of protein, carbs and amino acids, aphids, or plant lice, are a potentially unparalleled food source. It was once said that if the offspring of ONE female aphid survive the summer, there would be enough aphids to stand in military formation circumferencing the planet several times. That’s right, it’s whatever million comes after quadrillion. Now, the beautiful part is that they not only feed on plants, but there is a type of aphid for literally almost every plant on earth. Currently, the only breed available to order online are pea aphids, which eat a variety of plants, most of which are very quick germinators and reach maturity in at most two months.

Imagine we could create a sustainable ecosystem, growing our quadrillion aphids, requiring only sunlight water, and backup plants. Simply knock off some aphids when your rice needs some protein, because the little green guys reach maturity in a week, producing about 50 to 100 eggs when they do, and for parts of the year they REPRODUCE ASEXUALLY, making the management of their population even easier. Additionally, there is an aphid breed for just about every plant in the world meaning we could pick the best pair for the production of organic matter.

Now, just as an example, imagine if we could get ahold of some bamboo aphids, which are commonplace in parts of the world, a pest, and remember that bamboo grows about three feet a day. Assuming that pair would be easily sustainable, think about the potential organic matter production.
What if we could create a sustainable food source that simply requires a temperate climate, sunlight and water, well, we could feed a lot of people. The distribution of seeds, plastic containers and the pests hardly even requires much infrastructure in-country to grow and distribute. On top of that, just think, protein that doesn’t require large tracts of land, which is a major obstacle in many starving countries.

P.S. If anyone lives in Asia, I will pay to get some bamboo aphids.

P.S.S In America, the allowable number of aphids in hops is 2,500 per 10 grams, so if you are grossed out, or worried about health issues, beer is basically aphid juice.
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Yikes ! You just put me off bear. Though I'll continue with eating honey now and then, even though it's bee spittle.


Edit spelling
 
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So you aren't just taking my word for it, according to backyardnature.net, “Each of the many aphid species has its own life cycle, but there are some features uniting nearly all of them. One feature most species share is that they are incredibly prolific. Wingless adult female aphids can produce 50 to 100 offspring. A newly born aphid becomes a reproducing adult within about a week and then can produce up to 5 offspring per day for up to 30 days! The French naturalist Reaumur during the late eighteenth century calculated that if all the descendants of a single aphid survived during the summer and were arranged into a French military formation, four abreast, their line would extend for 27,950 miles, which exceeds the circumference of the earth at the equator!”

As far as their safety being in question, according to health.yahoo.net, “if you home-brew beer, you might consider growing your own hops: The FDA legally allows 2,500 aphids for every 10 grams of hops.”

And if that’s not enough, heck, ants are even doing it. Because I can't post a link, google ants farming aphids, there are numerous articles and videos on the awesome animals.

The only previous attempts at farming aphids I could find online were to feed people’s pet frogs, the concepts they used could be easily scaled up, and all were simply using pea aphids and pea plants, which is far from the best possible combination, in my opinion.

What remains for us is to figure out how to create a sustainable ecosystem for them to thrive in, plants that quickly produce seeds will be integral as ideally we will choose a plant that either can survive under attack from the aphids for a prolonged period of time, about a month at least, or quickly produce seeds, allowing us to constantly renew their food source, the key here is maximum amount of organic matter produced. This is why bamboo was my example, though I have done no tests myself. There are numerous options, Wisconsin fast plants(fastplants.org) are an intriguing option, as they are genetically modified to reach maturity, (producing seeds) in thirty days, among the fastest rates on the planet. Basically the only thing to left to deduce is what plant do aphids eat that can keep up with their unbelievable reproduction rates. And remember, as they reproduce asexually much of the year, they are going to be constantly harvested, leaving a small breeding population which will quickly balloon in size will be no problem, and will allow us to harvest some of them for food every week, which is a spectacular rate.
 
You might find a problem with the general market in regards to Aphids as a whole as most bugs won't be seen as a food supplement but a "Pest" (It would be a bit like saying "Solve world hunger... Eat Worms, Rats, Spiders, Snakes and Mosquitoes")
Some people might find it palatable however, Vegans and people with various religious affiliations where they require either Halal or Kosher food wouldn't want to eat aphids. (They can even have issues eating Honey)

Aphids are also extremely damaging to plant crops. If there was to be any form of scientific study into them it wouldn't be to convert them directly into food, but perhaps to look at how they utilise plant sap efficiently, after all the human body isn't as efficient at digesting plants. So there might be something that can be learnt about how they ingest it, perhaps even creating a form of "Predigested" jelly from planets that is more ingestible.

What is more likely on the table (In the distant future and possibly seen as scifi) is creating Nanotech (Small artificial bees) that can then act as a pollination device in closed environments (Hydroponic farms), this way a set number is release into the closed environment, they won't breed or become a pest problem and they can be removed from the soil should they malfunction (Possibly as simple as running a magnet over the area) The other reason why Nanotech would be looked into doing this is if we ever get to the point of colonising other planetary bodies, since any "eco catastrophe" from not having or maintaining the right environment would potentially hamper living flies from aiding pollination and it means also not introducing a non-indigenous species to a different planet. (except for whatever planet life is grown)
 
I agree that there is a tremendous amount of hatred towards aphids, as they are a crop pest, however we can turn a negative into a positive. The only reason that aphids still exist is because they reproduce so quickly, humanity would happily done away with them long ago if we could have.

Another strength of using aphids as opposed to other insects, is that many aphids only can eat their host plant, meaning that the chances for environmental contamination from foreign species can be completely avoided, which is a major drawback to using insects to fight world hunger.
 
The protein from aphids probably tastes fine.
But what is wrong with using locusts?
Yum Yum.
 
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Locusts are not only far more damaging to their host plant, if you read the original post, they don't possess the best reproduction rate on the planet, as aphids do, which is the most important part of the equation. Aphids act as little vampires, sucking sap out of the plant, slowly, with constant harvesting of excess aphids, a host plant can last much longer than one would think, considering we are covering it in pests. Flat out, aphid farming may be the ideal way to generate edible organic matter.
 
Stryder said:
You might find a problem with the general market in regards to Aphids as a whole as most bugs won't be seen as a food supplement but a "Pest" (It would be a bit like saying "Solve world hunger... Eat Worms, Rats, Spiders, Snakes and Mosquitoes")
Some people might find it palatable however, Vegans and people with various religious affiliations where they require either Halal or Kosher food wouldn't want to eat aphids. (They can even have issues eating Honey)

Aphids are also extremely damaging to plant crops. If there was to be any form of scientific study into them it wouldn't be to convert them directly into food, but perhaps to look at how they utilise plant sap efficiently, after all the human body isn't as efficient at digesting plants. So there might be something that can be learnt about how they ingest it, perhaps even creating a form of "Predigested" jelly from planets that is more ingestible.

What is more likely on the table (In the distant future and possibly seen as scifi) is creating Nanotech (Small artificial bees) that can then act as a pollination device in closed environments (Hydroponic farms), this way a set number is release into the closed environment, they won't breed or become a pest problem and they can be removed from the soil should they malfunction (Possibly as simple as running a magnet over the area) The other reason why Nanotech would be looked into doing this is if we ever get to the point of colonising other planetary bodies, since any "eco catastrophe" from not having or maintaining the right environment would potentially hamper living flies from aiding pollination and it means also not introducing a non-indigenous species to a different planet. (except for whatever planet life is grown)
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I couldn't agree more!
 
Nanobees would be good anti-burglar devices.
You could teach them to recognise the faces of people who should be in the house,
then arm their stings with narcotics.
If a burglar came in they would sting him to sleep, and phone the police.
They would have to give the police a password.
 
Excellent idea and starvation can overcome stigma, especially if they are ground into a powder.

[video=youtube;v4VxJecTOkM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4VxJecTOkM[/video]


One thing I would like to comment on is that the Entire insect is used. If we were to ingest chicken beaks people would protest and say bad things about nutritional values.

I find this interesting but do not know the nutrition values. You are also eating the Urine/feces of any bugs ground for consumption. Is this healthy? I suppose any bacteria would die in the heating process/ Interesting.

Now which bugs are best? The OP sounds set on aphids..
 
When reduced to mush or powder, they could be easily mixed with rice or lentils, with virtually no taste. Additionally, they contain a bacteria in their guts called Buchnera that provides them with essential amino acids their food doesn't. I would sure like to not have to worry about getting my aminos!

P.S. A quick surf around the net on poisonous insects to watch out for my kids eating, returned a very short list.
 
I would think we could solve world hunger better by just being vegetarians: any kind of animal protein is energy wasteful.
 
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