CEIF (Center for Environmental Sustainability through Insect Farming)

CEIF Fall Meeting: Building the Future of Insect Ag! CEIF wrapped up its productive Fall 2024 meeting at the beginning of November. This annual event is where researchers and industry mentors come together to select exciting new research projects for the following year. It's a culmination of months of hard work and preparation. Enormous thanks to outgoing industry chair Patrick Crowley for his leadership!?We're also excited to welcome Christopher Warburton as our new Industry Advisory Board chair. Looking ahead, mark your calendars!?? The CEIF Spring Meeting will be held at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi next May. Interested in attending??Get on the guest list now by contacting Cheryl Preyer or emailing?[email protected]. #insects #insectag #research #nsffunded

Congratulations to CEIF member Innovafeed on being awarded this USDA Fertilizer Production Expansion Program (FPEP) grant! Insect frass = regenerative fertilizer #insects #insectag #research

Feed Navigator asks some great questions about the future of the insect protein industry, and we still have much to learn. That's where CEIF comes in: as an industry-academic cooperative research center, we're dedicated to driving sustainable insect farming practices and developing the next generation of skilled industry workforce. https://lnkd.in/eMP9YqMD #insects #insectag #research #nsffunded https://lnkd.in/ei62_UbB

Fantastic news to see CEIF member, entosystem, announce this investment to develop a second commercial plant! This is tremendous for both entosystem and the Insect Agriculture industry. #insects #insectag #research #nsffunded https://lnkd.in/dkjV_DBd

CEIF Center Director Jeffery Tomberlin to participate in the Cellular Agriculture and Future Food Symposium on September 19th, AgriLife Center, Texas A&M University! #insectag #research

Are you in the insect production, pet food, engineering, equipment, or waste management industries? Don't miss this exclusive opportunity to get a sneak peek behind the curtain of the latest CEIF research in insect agriculture! November 4-5, CEIF Industry Members and Researchers will meet in Durham, North Carolina, to review current research projects and select new projects for 2025. The Center for Environmental Sustainability through Insect Farming (CEIF) is an NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center. CEIF bridges Academia and Industry with foundational, pre-competitive?research to drive growth of the Insect Agriculture space. Space is very limited; email [email protected] now for details. #insectag #research #nsffunded

CEIF (Center for Environmental Sustainability through Insect Farming) was at it again with #NSF funding to provide experiences to students who don’t traditionally have access to research experiences. What a personal experience this was for me. #iuiresearch https://lnkd.in/g9T43VH2

CEIF is delighted to share that Dr. Del Gatlin’s paper “Evaluation of Lauric acid enhancement of black soldier fly larvae from coconut” is included in the August 2024 Journal of Economic Entomology issue. https://lnkd.in/e6htVaMd #InsectAg #Insects #Research #NSFfunded This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through the Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) NSF cooperative agreements NSF-IIP-2052454 (TAMU), NSF-IIP-2052565 (IUI), & NSF-IIP-2052788 (MSU). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the Industry Advisory Board Members of the Center for Environmental Sustainability through Insect Farming.

We are thrilled to see the Insect Industry, and our members, succeed! Great news for CEIF member, Chapul Farms (and the growth of insect frass as fertilizer) with their recent award via the USDA Fertilizer Production and Expansion Program. Read more about it here: https://lnkd.in/eEKYYHwy #insectag #insects #frass

Thanks to Texas Highways Magazine for the shout-out in their April Discovery issue!?Check out their delightful coverage of Insects as Food and Feed in Texas. It’s hard not to be distracted by the gorgeous pictures of entrees, drinks and appetizers inspired by authentic, traditional Mexican dishes that include crickets, grasshoppers and ants. But the meat of the article lies in the discussion about how insects are key to solving worldwide challenges as the human population grows over the next 25 years, even though human consumption of bugs goes back thousands of years. Texas restaurants that use insect ingredients may be looking to the past for inspiration, but it’s the insect agriculture sector where Texas is at the forefront of innovation. Dr. Jeffery Tomberlin (CEIF’s Center Director at Texas A&M University) explains the difference between insect-eating and CEIF’s work in utilizing insects as novel proteins for food and feed and harnessing their unique capacity to break down and repackage nutrients. The section below, in particular, distills the objectives of the Center beautifully while recognizing the challenges we face with regard to the public perception of entomophagy— “First, it aims to use insect protein as feed for farm animals, while also making insect ingredients more feasible for widespread consumption at the dinner table. To achieve the latter, these insect innovators understand they’ll have to upend some firmly ingrained attitudes about what should and shouldn’t be put into our bodies.” — J. Jones, Texas Highways #insectag #insects #nsffunded https://lnkd.in/echhmf8V