The Fly

As I sit here at my desk, the temperature is rising and is expected to hit 39C today. This is typical, and expected, in Australia at this time of the year.

It is also expected that flies are part of our life in this country. They are the uninvited guest to the BBQs and the picnics. They hang out in our kitchens. Those that live here learnt the “Australian Wave” at a very early age, or very quickly when they moved here. We automatically do a back handed wave without even knowing we are doing it.

We see the fly as an enemy that needs to be eliminated and we have sprays as well as screens on our buildings to keep them out or kill them.

But is the Fly the baddie we have long seen it as?

Jason Drew, a British born South African-based ‘environmental capitalist’ or ‘eco-entrepeneur’, believes that we should take advantage of this insect instead of trying to kill it.

He believes that “fly farming” may be a key part of our future food supply. It seems a contradiction to say that we may need flies to help with our food, but by utilizing the fly’s natural cycle we may be able to produce more food at significant profits and all whilst reducing waste. In other words, sustainability.

There is business in South Africa that is producing two tons of fly larva (“magmeal”) per week, that is then being used in fish farms. This is significantly reducing the impact on fish bait and is making fish farming sustainable. The meal is also being fed to chickens on chicken farms, which replaces the fish meal that is currently being used in many places. The magmeal is a natural source of food for the fish and chickens.

The true beauty of this business is that the flies are fed on the waste from chicken processing, which then produces the fly larvae, which is then fed to chickens. In other words, it is a sustainable system that makes money and reduces waste considerably.

So is the fly the enemy? No,  it most certainly should not be in the kitchen or at the BBQ, but it most certainly should be used to make life better.

Jason Drew is the author of two recent bestsellers “The Protein Crunch – Civilization on the brink” (June 2011) and “The Story of the Fly and how it could save the world” (December 2011).