Dustin Crummett's Insect Institute paper:

The papers are:

1. This one, which explains what was wrong with earlier pro-insect farming research and expresses various reservations about the industry,
2. This one, which explains why feeding insects organic waste is extremely difficult in practice (this undermines the central rationale for insect farming, which was supposed to be about the circular economy etc.), and
3. This one, which argues that it will be hard for insect-based feeds to be economically competitive, leaving them unable to meaningfully address environmental concerns associated with soy or fishmeal. (This limits the growth potential of insect farming and leaves it unattractive as an investment, though by targeting premium markets the industry may still be able to support farming trillions or tens of trillions of insects per year).

We also have this paper, which provides a broad overview of the environmental impact of insect farming, and this paper, which argues that consumer acceptance issues will prevent insects from meaningfully displacing meat, under review. Those should be out in academic journals in coming months.

• Explored in Biteau et al., 2024

• Most insects are used in baked goods not meat alternatives, which completed negates their climate impacts because bread and cake wasn't that bad for the environment to begin with.

• Most farmed insects are instead fed to other animals. Companies rearing insects at scale generally rely on materials that could be fed directly to other animals or used by other sectors, and, due to practical challenges, this is not likely to change in the future. Instead of saving the world, insect farming mostly adds an inefficient and expensive layer to the food system we already have.

• A report by DEFRA concluded that insect animal feed has a higher environmental impact than the grains they replace.