Farm 432: A Kitchen Appliance That Breeds Fly Larva For Protein

Flies are usually considered unwelcome guests in the kitchen, but a Designer and Fulbright scholar Katharina Unger has created "Farm 432" whisc is a fly-breeding device for home use that continually collects fly larva as a protein source for less squeamish diners. As unappetizing as it may sound, the designer hopes that convincing the Western world to add insects to its diet could help increase the planet's overall food supply.

"Farm 432 enables people to turn against the dysfunctional system of current meat production by growing their own protein source," said Unger.

Unger, an industrial design student at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, devised her concept of a self-contained fly larva farm as an alternative to factory livestock.

"Black soldier fly larva are one of the most efficient protein converters in insects, containing up to 42% of protein, a lot of calcium and amino acids," the designer adds. After 432 hours, 1 gram of black soldier fly eggs turns into 2.4 kilograms of larva protein, so Unger predicts that people could harvest approximately 500 grams of larva a week, producing two meals.

Using Farm 432, after 432 hours, 1 gram of black soldier fly eggs turns into 2.4 kilograms of larva protein

The Farm 432 itself resembles an empty water cooler with a compartment on top for adding the initial batch of larva. After the larva have matured, the resulting flies migrate into the large, clear plastic chamber so they can mate and produce more larva. The bottom of the chamber contains several holes which provide either food, water, or a space to lay eggs. Any eggs that are laid in these spaces drop down into another chamber, where they hatch and grow. Once they're able to move, the larva instinctively climb up a short tunnel, where they are trapped in a collection bucket to be consumed later.

Once the larva have matured, the resulting flies will drop down into the large, clear plastic chamber so they can mate and produce more larva

The bottom of the chamber contains several holes which provide either food, water, or a space to lay eggs

The larva instinctively climb up a short tunnel, where they are trapped in a collection bucket to be consumed later

As long as some of the larva are set aside and put back in the main chamber, the cycle can continue indefinitely with just a little bit of food to sustain them.

"The larvae I bred have a very distinctive taste," she said. When you cook them, they smell a bit like cooked potatoes. The consistency is a bit harder on the outside and like soft meat on the inside. The taste is nutty and a bit meaty."

"With my design I am proposing a new lifestyle," the designer said. "It's about a potential new western culture of insect eating and breeding. It is really about making people see that there is a great variety of food on our planet that we rarely consider."

Unger explained that by 2050 meat production will need to increase by 50 percent to meet population increase, predicting that because we already use one third of croplands for the production of animal feed, it will be necessary to develop alternative food sources and production methods.

She added that her system so far uses just one out of 1000 edible insects in the world and she wants to develop the idea further in collaborations with manufacturers and researchers.

In the future, Unger plans to develop her farm further to support a greater variety of edible insects and possibly mass produce it as a consumer product. Of course, the most obvious hurdle for her fly-breeding device is convincing more people to eat insect larva, regardless of taste. That's a difficult concept for most Westerners to swallow under ideal circumstances, but especially when 500 grams of protein requires about 10,000 larva. On the other hand, insects do contain less calories than most sources of protein, so that could be a selling point.

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Farm 432: A Kitchen Appliance That Breeds Fly Larva For Protein