Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** human food demand will double by…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** human food demand will double by 2050. Thus, pressure on agricultural systems to provide enough food, particularly protein, to feed the global population, will increase. Accordingly, concentrated animal facility operations (cafos) will increase production to meet demand. Current methods for remediating manure are economically limited. Alternate strategies are needed that remove manure from the system while reducing financial burdens on cafos. The black soldier fly (BSF) is a sustainable answer for managing manure associated with cafos. BSF occurs throughout temperate/tropical regions, is not a pest, consumes organic waste such as manure, and is approved as an ingredient for livestock, poultry, and aquaculture feed. However, the process of BSF waste conversion still has room for efficiency improvements, and little is known about feed safety in regard to pathogen diversity.probiotics will be used to enhance BSF conversion of dairy manure to protein (removing greater than 50% of the n andp contained in manure). We will assess volatile organic compound emissions and microbial community structure and active genes in the waste (pre- and post-digestion by BSF) and the resulting larvae for use as a feed ingredient for aquaculture, poultry, swine, and pets. Remaining waste can be converted to fertilizer. The program area priority for this project is sustainable agroecosystems: health, functions, processes and management, as we aim to harness ecosystem services (waste digestion) to improve ecosystem health, productivity, and economic viability by converting dairy wastes to protein that can be potentially used as feed.