Future of Agriculture Future of Agriculture 105: How Farming Maggots Can Convert Waste to Feed with Olympia Yarger of GOTERRA
Olympia Yarger is the Founder and CEO of GOTERRA, an Australian-based waste management company that redefines the idea of food waste through decentralized waste management. Their company’s primary goal is to manage food and animal waste using insects of which the byproduct could be used as a feed additive. This approach is an alternative and sustainable way of feeding livestock that also reduces global waste.
Today, Olympia shares how maggots can help solve global food waste. She describes what it was like to start a maggot farm, how to manage one, and what makes it unique compared to typical farms. She also explains how maggots convert food waste to animal feed and how this could be the future of sustainable agriculture.
“It's one thing to get the flies to do the act and get viable eggs, but it's another to manage consistency of production at any scale.” - Olympia Yarger
This Week on The Future of Agriculture Podcast:
- The problems they initially encountered with their maggots when they were starting out.
- What it's like to run a maggot farm vs a typical farm.
- What a Black Soldier Fly farm looks like.
- How much food waste could one shipping container go through?
- How they structure their business model.
- How long it takes to raise maggots.
- What they do with waste that wasn't consumed.
- Food items they can't use in the farm.
Olympia Yarger’s Words of Wisdom:
- You can streamline insect farming in a way that makes it affordable and also gives you access to a wave of ideas.
- There is a need to breed a lot of maggot eggs and refine the system in a way that is commercially viable.
Connect with Olympia Yarger:
Check Out Our Sponsor for the “Sustainability at Scale” Series
Have you ever heard of Marrone’s BIO WITH BITE? Marrone Bio Innovation offers crop pest protection for the modern organic and conventional production systems. To make sure every grower using their products realize the best possible return on investment, Marrone invests time and resources to thoroughly test and demonstrate the efficacy of those new state of the art products. With serious trial data to back it up! You can see more and connect directly with Marrone by visiting them at www.marronebio.com
Marrone is very proud to support The Future Of Agriculture blog series on sustainability in agriculture with Tim Hammerich.
We Are a Part of a Bigger Family!
The Future of Agriculture Podcast is now part of the Farm and Rural Ag Network. Listen to more ag-related podcasts by subscribing on iTunes or on the Farm and Rural Ag Network Website today.
Share the Ag-Love!
Thanks for joining us on the Future of Agriculture Podcast – your spot for valuable information, content, and interviews with industry leaders throughout the agricultural space! If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please subscribe on iTunes and leave your honest feedback. Don’t forget to share it with your friends on your favorite social media spots!
Learn more about AgGrad by visiting:
AgGrad on Twitter AgGrad on Facebook AgGrad on LinkedIn AgGrad on Instagram