Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) as a feed for beef cattle: a hedonic pricing model

Black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae (BSFL) have potential to be utilised as livestock feed. Cattle, specifically, may be an ideal market for BSFL due to their specialised digestive physiology and the size of the cattle feeding industry. Currently, however, the market value of BSFL as cattle feed is unknown. This creates a critical limitation to evaluating the feasibility of BSFL as feed and deters the insect rearing industry from pursuing cattle as a potential outlet for products. Accordingly, the objective of our study was to predict the market value of BSFL as a nutrient source for cattle. To achieve this, we developed a hedonic model that established a quantitative relationship between the nutrient content of 13 conventional cattle feeds and their mean quarterly price. The model was then used to estimate the market value of BSFL based on its nutrient composition (94% dry matter, 109% total digestible nutrients, 38% crude protein, 35% ether extract, 10% ash). Using the Chicago market and 2021-U.S. dollar values, we predicted the price of BSFL for the cattle feed market to be $312.30 +/- 4.90/short ton, which was greater than the actual market price of all feeds included in our analysis. Significant drivers of price in our model were total digestible nutrients (P=0.01) and crude protein (P=0.05); with all else held constant, each additional unit of total digestible nutrients was valued at $4.08 and each additional unit of crude protein at $4.68. These data provide insights into the economic value of BSFL as a cattle feed and indicate that, to optimise market value of BSFL as cattle feed, rearing processes increasing total digestible nutrient and crude protein content should be developed.