‘Minilivestock’ farming: Who is farming edible insects in Europe and North America?

Wilkie, Rhoda

doi:10.1177/1440783318815304

Cited by 23 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Most participants were part-time farmers, farming insects alongside other jobs and responsibilities. Three participants had a background in entomology, but the majority had no formal training in rearing insects (see Wilkie (2018) for further detail on who farms insects in Europe and North America). Farms, meanwhile, range from rooms in participants' houses and large garden sheds, to relatively large-scale barns.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The article contributes to wider ongoing debates within geography, animal studies and science and technology studies (STSs) around multispecies companionship involving ostensibly 'awkward' (Ginn et al, 2014: 113) creatures, and around the relationship between practices of 'care' and the notion of 'ethical regard' in more-than-human relations (Pitt, 2018: 255). Insects, recently attracting increasing attention across animal studies and STS (key contributions include Bear, 2019;Beisel, 2015;Beisel et al, 2013;Bingham, 2006;Del Casino Jr, 2018;Ginn et al, 2014;Jones and Beynon, 2020;Lorimer, 2007;Phillips, 2014Phillips, , 2020Shaw et al, 2013Shaw et al, , 2010Wilkie, 2018; I discuss the contributions of such literature in a subsequent section), have often been presented as 'other' (Looy et al, 2014: 132), and at 'empathetic distance' (Beisel et al, 2013: 6) from humans. Alongside this, their ontological difference can be 'positive' (Bingham, 2006: 4927), fostering fascination (Beisel et al, 2013: 8) and 'curiosity' (Lorimer, 2014: 197).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Making insects tick: Responsibility, attentiveness and care in edible insect farming

Bear

2020

Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Insects are increasingly promoted as a sustainable and nutritious source of protein, with ‘edible insect’ sectors emerging in many countries not traditionally associated with their consumption. A number of studies have examined the attitudes of potential consumers to eating insects but the understandings and practices of farmers have largely been ignored. This article expands nature-society scholarship’s engagement with the edible insect sector by investigating how farmers make sense of their responsibilities to insects through their everyday practices. Drawing on a qualitative study of the UK’s edible insect farmers, the article contributes to wider ongoing debates within science and technology studies and animal studies around multispecies companionship involving apparently ‘awkward’ creatures, and around the relationship between ‘care’ and ‘ethical regard’ in more-than-human relations. Such debates are especially pertinent here, as insects have often been understood as lacking sentience and beyond moral considerability, resulting in their exclusion from animal welfare codes and regulation. Insect farmers are therefore faced with questions not only about how to care for their ‘minilivestock’ but also whether to care. Following an outline of the UK’s edible insect production sector, and framed by a discussion of literature on awkward creatures, attentiveness and practices of care, the article reports on: (1) the relationship between sentience and farmers’ constructions of insects’ moral significance; (2) farmers’ motives for, and approaches to, becoming attentive to their insects; and (3) how farmers respond to the actions of insects. It concludes by reflecting on the nature of attentiveness encountered in edible insect farming, arguing that it offers a promising yet unstable basis for the development of harmonious more-than-human relations.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making insects tick: Responsibility, attentiveness and care in edible insect farming

Bear

2020

Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Finally, certain regions are marketing insect consumption as not only a more sustainable food pathway (House, 2018) but also as a luxury food, further complicating an already complex relationship between humans and insects. Wilkie (2018) notes the longevity of entomophagy [3] across certain parts of the world, but the relative newness of farming edible insects, a practice that is expected to increase as many geographical areas seek to find more sustainable methods to produce food supplies. However, it is important to note that in some areas that are beginning to explore insect farming, insects as food are treated as a luxury item (Scutti, 2018).…”

Section: Complex Relationships With Insectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical posthumanism for all: a call to reject insect speciesism

Gunderman

White

2020

IJSSP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeThe authors articulate a posthuman politics of hope to unpack the richly embodied personal experiences and web of relationalities formed through repeated encounters with insects. Interrogating insect speciesism teaches to extend the authors’ compassion and live symbiotically with insects. The authors focus on the narrative of insect decline as impacted by colonialism and white supremacy, enabling insect speciesism to flourish alongside exploitation of other human and nonhuman creatures.Design/methodology/approachThe authors pay particular attention the use of everyday language and framing of insects to “other” them, thereby trivializing and demonizing their existence, including “it's *just* a bug” or “they are pests.” Insect speciesism employs similar rhetoric reinforcing discrimination patterns of other nonhuman animals and humans. The authors focus on the unexpected encounters with insects in domestic spaces, such as an office desk, and through the multispecies space of “the allotment.”FindingsThe authors reflect on two possible posthuman futures: one where insect speciesism is entrenched and unrepentant; the second a decolonized society where we aspire to live a more compassionate and non-violent existence amidst these remarkable and brilliant creatures we owe our very existence on Earth.Originality/valueOne of the most profound lessons of the crisis-driven epoch of the Anthropocene is this: our existence on Earth is intimately bound with the flourishing of all forms of life. This includes complex multispecies encounters between humans and insects, an area of enquiry widely neglected across the social sciences. Faced with imminent catastrophic decline and extinction of insect and invertebrate populations, human relationships with these fellow Earthlings are deserving of further attention.

show abstract

“…However, because of the low cost and high nutritional content of insects, entomophagy, a scientific name for eating insects, has grown in popularity and is now extensively practiced in developing nations such as India, South Africa, Thailand, and Kenya [2,7,10]. Some farmed insect species for consumption are mealworm (Tenebrio molitor), black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens), adult house cricket (Acheta domesticus), cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus), and adult Madagascar hissing cockroach (Gomphadorhina portentosa) [11,12]. Generally, insects are rich in proteins, fatty acids, vitamins, fiber, and minerals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of Drying Parameters for Hermetia illucens Using Oven Drying

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Insects are frequently dried to retain their nutritional quality. The influence of drying temperature and drying time has an effect on the crude lipid yield. The greater moisture loss will lead to a higher lipid yield. Inactivation of larvae by means of freezing followed by oven drying indicates a high amount of free fatty acids. The total fatty acid concentration in Hermetia illucens prepupae was mainly comprised of saturated fatty acids followed by monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids. A substantial amount of lauric acid was discovered and may be beneficial in animal feed. The optimum crude lipid yield and moisture loss temperature were determined.

show abstract

‘Minilivestock’ farming: Who is farming edible insects in Europe and North America?

Cited by 23 publications

References 39 publications

Making insects tick: Responsibility, attentiveness and care in edible insect farming

Making insects tick: Responsibility, attentiveness and care in edible insect farming

Critical posthumanism for all: a call to reject insect speciesism

Optimization of Drying Parameters for Hermetia illucens Using Oven Drying

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About