Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Entomo Farms is an insect farming company that produces mealworms and crickets for pet food, proteinpowder, and edible snacks. Insect frass (manure) is a waste product produced as part of the farming process. Preliminary evidence supports the beneficial use of frass as an organic fertilizer, with the potential ability toenhance crop drought tolerance. Thus, there is a commercialization opportunity to offer an organic fertilizer, with the added ability to enhance crop drought tolerance, a common problem faced by many small- andlarge-scale producers. The issue that Entomo Farms faces is that to commercialize their frass as a crop drought tolerance enhancer, the company needs to determine if cricket frass increases crop drought tolerance, ifenhanced drought tolerance also occurs across different crops, and what addition rates are needed to obtainthese drought tolerance benefits. As a result, Entomo Farms would like to collaborate with Nova ScotiaCommunity College to investigate these unknowns. Anticipated results will benefit Entomo Farms byproviding scientific evidence indicating how their frass increases crop drought tolerance. This information will be used to market their frass as an organic fertilizer product that can mitigate the impact of drought, leading to more product sales because of the added drought tolerance benefit. The project will benefit Canada byproviding an organic fertilizer option to farmers and general consumers looking for alternatives tomanufactured/synthetic fertilizers that can also enhance crop drought tolerance.