Black soldier fly larvae are used to convert organic waste into protein and fertilizer. This rapidly growing industry raises welfare questions at unprecedented scale.
Black soldier fly larvae welfare represents a case study in moral uncertainty at scale. If BSFL have any capacity for aversive experience, the projected scale of the industry — trillions of larvae annually — makes it among the most significant moral questions in animal agriculture. The evidence for BSFL sentience is weaker than for vertebrates but not zero — they have nociceptors and behavioral responses to harmful stimuli. The precautionary principle is particularly compelling here because the cost of optimizing welfare conditions is very low — substrate quality, thermal management, and density optimization primarily serve productivity goals anyway. The welfare case for taking invertebrate welfare seriously in insect farming costs almost nothing and could prevent enormous suffering if the moral uncertainty resolves toward sentience.