Evaluation of Black Soldier Fly Frass as growing media in urban agriculture vegetable production systems

View the project report

Commodities

• Vegetables: broccoli, greens (lettuces), tomatoes

Practices

• Crop Production: cropping systems
• Energy: byproduct utilization
• Sustainable Communities: sustainability measures, urban agriculture

This project centers on investigating the use of Black Soldier Fly larvae (BSFL) frass as an eco-friendly and inexpensive substitute for traditional growing media, like peat moss, in urban farm production systems.

The initiative collaborates with Boston Microgreens and Apogee Farms, both recognized for their sustainable practices and interest in innovative agricultural solutions in Boston and D.C., respectively. This partnership aims to address the environmental and economic issues associated with conventional growing media, which are costly and have a significant ecological footprint.

The core of the project is a series of experimental trials conducted at the partner farms and Circular Agricultural Solutions’ facility. These trials will evaluate the efficacy of BSFL frass as a standalone and mixed growing medium for microgreens and vegetable starts. Key performance indicators include germination rates, yields, and overall plant health.

This approach not only promises a reduction in environmental impact through the recycling of organic waste into valuable agricultural input but also aims to lower the production costs for urban farmers. The project intends to offer insights into the management practices required for the successful integration of BSFL frass in urban agricultural systems.

The successful implementation of this project could significantly influence urban farming practices, encouraging a shift towards more sustainable, cost-effective, , environmentally responsible and circular agricultural methods.

Our primary goal is to translate the developing research on BSFL into a manageable, sustainable, and adoptable practice for farmers across diverse production systems. We plan to achieve this by focusing on the following two areas:

Objective 1: Assess the use of BSFL frass as a substitute for growing media in microgreen production 

Specifically, we will look at how BSFL frass can be supplemented into growing media in microgreen production using two economically important microgreens, sunflower and broccoli. We will then assess how frass alone compares to frass mixed with media, and how both of these compare to growing media alone. We will use the metrics of germination rate and yield per tray as indicators of plant performance across these different media. 

Objective 2: assess the use of BSFL frass as a substitute for growing media for vegetable starts, for outdoor soil-based production

Here, we will repeat the experimental design from objective 1, and trial this with tomato and lettuce vegetable starts that are being used for outdoor production. 

While implementing these questions,  we will communicate with farmers to identify obstacles that arise along the way, and use these to inform our future efforts of disseminating and sharing our results.