TECHNOLOGY 58 Alternative Proteins Magazine October 2025 HARNESSING AI TO FEED THE FUTURE When my family started Fluker Farms in 1956, the world of insect farming was driven by hands-on experience, intuition, and a deep respect for biology. Today, nearly seven decades later, we’re seeing a remarkable evolution in this field—one fueled by automation, analytics, and artificial intelligence. At Soldier Fly Technologies (SFT), we are bringing data-driven precision and scalable automation to one of agriculture’s most promising frontiers: insect-based protein. Our focus on AI-powered production monitoring and process optimization is enabling us to unlock levels of efficiency and consistency once thought impossible in insect rearing. WHY AI MATTERS TO THE INSECT INDUSTRY The global insect industry is scaling rapidly to meet a pressing challenge—feeding a growing world population with finite resources. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world’s population is projected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050. Yet two-thirds of agricultural land is already dedicated to feeding livestock, and studies by the United Nations and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) warn that as much as 95% of the world’s soil could be degraded or unfit for farming within the same timeframe. Insect farming, particularly Black Soldier Fly (BSF) production, offers a sustainable solution: converting agricultural by-products and waste streams into valuable protein and soil nutrients using minimal land and water. However, reaching industrial scale demands precision, traceability, and reliability—areas where AI excels. Unlike traditional livestock farming, insect production involves countless micro-environments that can shift rapidly—temperature, humidity, feed composition, and biological variation all play roles in performance outcomes. Human operators simply cannot monitor or respond to all of these fluctuations in real time. That’s where AI-enabled production intelligence becomes indispensable. THE SOLDIER FLY TECHNOLOGIES APPROACH At Soldier Fly Technologies, we see insect farming Artificial intelligence is transforming insect farming from an emerging sustainability solution into a precision-controlled production powerhouse. Soldier Fly Technologies is pioneering this shift—merging data science, automation, and decades of farming expertise to redefine how the Black Soldier Fly is farmed at scale. USING DATA AND AI TO DEFINE THE FUTURE OF INSECT FARMING David Fluker Founder & CEO Soldier Fly Technologies
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