Farming insects, instead of more “traditional” livestock, could improve food security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to scientists at Wageningen University, in the Netherlands, and reported today in online development magazine Sci-Dev.
According to Wageningen entomologist Dennis Oonincx, lead author of the study into the possible benefits of farming insects, over 80 percent of the world’s population consumes wild insects. While farming them is much less common, many are an excellent source of protein and result in lower emissions of the powerful greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide.