Bug Mars Q&A: How Bugs Can Help Us Fight Climate Change

Article By: Jessica Galang, Content Editor at Georgian 

With the industrial meat industry responsible for 32% of the world’s global methane emissions, there’s a need for solutions that reduce the reliance on unsustainable farming practices.

Enter bug protein. The World Economic Forum notes that edible insects can produce quality protein equivalent to animals, and require much less care compared to livestock. As the world’s population grows, so too does the need for protein — and our need to produce it in a way that doesn’t kill the planet. 

Bug Mars, part of the Gradient Spaces founder program, is making it easier to produce bug protein. The company offers a smart monitoring hub that allows farmers to understand what’s happening on their farms and improve their yield.

We caught up with Natalie Duncan, co-founder at Bug Mars, to talk about how the Bug Mars platform works and why bug farming is more sustainable than animal farming.

How did you come up with the idea to launch Bug Mars?

Bug Mars was conceived as a way to impact the world positively and take actionable steps in addressing my concerns for future generations, food security and climate change.

A few years ago I began farming my own insects for food but the process was extremely time-consuming and I kept losing my colony, each time to a different threat.

Seth Hardy (co-founder and CTO of Bug Mars) and I began to research solutions and recognized quickly that all insect farmers face the same challenges of labour-intensive operations and high loss rates.

Along with Dr. Holly Gardner (co-founder and COO of Bug Mars), we imagined how implementing innovative technologies in computer vision, machine learning and data analytics would improve supply chain reliability, yield and profitability and make alternative, sustainable protein sources accessible and abundant. 

And we have done just that.  

Bug Mars is how I intend on giving more than I take, leaving things better than I found them, and developing meaningful and ethical opportunities for others, one insect at a time.

How can edible insects be part of mitigating the climate crisis?

Crickets require 12 times less food, 15 times less land, 2,000 times less water and produce 100 times fewer GHG emissions than cattle for the same protein production. They feed on food scraps and their frass (that’s cricket poop) is a unique fertilizer that is organic and sustainable. 

Insects can replace ingredients fed to our livestock, making them a net-zero addition to animal feed which presents an opportunity to reduce the environmental impacts of traditional livestock operations.

Ultimately, insects as an alternative protein option for us and our food can reduce habitat destruction, the abuse of natural resources and pollution. 

Can you tell us more about the problem you’re trying to solve for your customers?

The agriculture sector as a whole is being significantly impacted by labour shortages: agriculture is a labour-intensive industry, with many areas still operating manually.

Supply chain challenges have underlined the need to automate and the adoption of innovative technology to simplify operations is being received with growing interest from farmers. 

The Bug Mars system is a fully integrated hardware/software solution that requires minimal technical ability to use. It is plug-and-play technology that balances standardization and customization, allowing insect farmers to access the most advanced capabilities available in the precision agriculture market.

Our fully integrated sensor and IoT smart hub and dashboard collects appropriate data (number, sex, age, growth rate), monitors pests and environmental conditions, and provides operational intelligence to predict harvest windows, changes in growth rates, mortality, and anticipated yield.

In North America, there are still some challenges with getting mainstream adoption of edible insects. How is Bug Mars tackling this challenge?

Starvation is a pretty motivating factor. And one that affects us all.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN warns that hunger may significantly increase in urban areas if drastic measures are not taken to ensure vulnerable people in these areas have access to food.

Broader acceptance of alternative proteins has already been accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic as consumers are becoming more aware of the connections between our food, health and environment.

Producers have been tackling this issue by offering abstract products, insect protein in the form of powders and bars. 

Any exciting milestones to share?

We’ve launched our research and development facility located at its company headquarters, with a small personal use cricket rearing area.

Precision agriculture/"smart" farming is a practice that uses automated data gathering technologies, such as variable-rate mapping, artificial intelligence, and digital imagery to guide targeted farm management activities like feeding, input application and harvesting to improve the sustainability, efficiency and productivity of agricultural operations. The benefits include lower input costs, increased yields, enhanced environmental sustainability and better-informed management decisions. 

How can Gradient Spaces help you?

Bug Mars is in discussions with some of North America’s largest insect producers. Gradient Spaces and Georgian are helping us in our journey to access investment so that we can advance our deployment and secure our food landscape.