Evaluation of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) Compost as a Soil Amendment for Vegetable Production

Agricultural production practices are facing ever‐increasing constraints under a climate demanding more sustainable practices be implemented. One promising solution that has received a lot of attention of late is black soldier fly (BSF) composting. Here we evaluated the application of BSF‐derived compost in comparison to commercially available composted cow manure on three specialty crops. Our results indicate that BSF‐derived composts were higher in key nutrients (N‐P‐K) compared to composted cow manures (4.54‐2.02‐3.76 compared 1.63‐0.02‐0.1, respectively), and contain a higher amount of organic matter (92.94% vs. 49.12%, respectively). BSF‐derived compost performed as well as the commercial composted cow manure when applied to tomatoes and increased fresh weight, above‐ and below‐ground biomass in carrot and height, stem diameter and below‐ground biomass in cucumber production. The additional benefits that coincide with soil amendment generation by BSF larvae (in comparison to other composting methods) include the wide resource base that can be utilised, the decreased time to compost maturity (5 weeks) and coproduction of insect‐derived protein reinforce the benefits to increased agriculture sustainability in the face of dwindling resources and increased population growth.