Agricultural WI

ninebucks

Banned
What if from the earliest days of civilisation, much more emphasis was made on breeding invertibrates, slugs, beatles lavae, etc?

Much of the world does eat food from these sources, but, for better or for worse, it is considered a fringe form of nutrition. What if instead large livestock and poultry became the fringe, and the majority got their protein from grubs and such?

What kind of mass agricultural establishments would be established to handle this? For one thing, there won't be any cowboys...
 
Interesting idea.
But how do the bacteria you get from grubs compare with the bacteria in livestock? By the time you fry a grub enough to kill the germs, it might have shriveled into practically nothing. Those early people, who didn't know they were killing germs, might think it's more worthwhile eating one big steak than hundreds of little grubs.
There might be more people eating insects, but they'd still be eating steaks and pork chops, IMHO.
 

ninebucks

Banned
After reading this, it doesn't seem like the possibility of zoonosis is any greater than with mammalian lifestock.

Also, the statistics surrounding the reproductional rate and metabolic efficiency of certain insects are quite appealing. If mass insect agriculture was established, its likely the world would be much better fed...
 
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