Invertebrates

Insect Farming for Protein: Welfare at Trillion-Scale

Insect farming for animal feed and human consumption is growing rapidly; welfare considerations at trillion-scale deserve careful examination.

Key Facts

Global insect farming kills an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion insects annually for feed
Black soldier fly larvae are the most commonly farmed insect species globally
Common killing methods include heat, cold, and carbon dioxide asphyxiation
Evidence for insect consciousness is limited but not absent for all species
Insect farming has dramatically lower land and water use than conventional livestock farming

Welfare Considerations

The welfare status of farmed insects is genuinely uncertain. If insects have any capacity for suffering, the trillion-scale at which they are killed creates enormous potential moral significance. Heat killing of insects causes behavioral distress indicators. Carbon dioxide is used at concentrations that cause distress in other animals. The precautionary principle suggests developing and preferring the most humane killing methods available, even under uncertainty.

What You Can Do

Support research into insect welfare and humane killing methods
Advocate for welfare assessment to accompany insect farming expansion
Support insect farming expansion as a lower-land-use protein source relative to conventional meat
Donate to organizations studying insect sentience and welfare implications
Engage with the philosophical question of insect moral status as farming scales up