Industrial insect farming is rapidly expanding across the world, with billions — and potentially trillions — of insects bred annually for animal feed, aquaculture, fertilizer production, waste processing, and other commercial uses.

At the Society for the Protection of Insects, we believe the environmental and ecological consequences of scaling insect farming to industrial levels deserve far greater public scrutiny.

While insect farming is often promoted as inherently sustainable, many claims surrounding its environmental benefits remain uncertain, incomplete, or highly dependent on production methods and energy use.

We are particularly concerned about:

• the ecological risks of mass-scale insect production,

• energy and resource demands of intensive indoor farming systems,

• pollution and biological waste streams,

• invasive species and pathogen risks,

• and the expansion of industrial animal agriculture through insect-based feed production.

We advocate for stronger environmental oversight, independent scientific research, and precautionary policy approaches as the industry continues to grow.

Our work includes:

• public education and outreach,

• coalition-building,

• stakeholder engagement,

• advocacy and activism,

• and promoting broader discussion about the ecological impacts of industrial insect farming.

We believe environmental policy should be grounded in transparency, scientific rigor, and long-term ecological sustainability — not assumptions that industrialization is automatically “green.”