Future Land Use for Insect Meat Production Among Countries: A Global Classification

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Environmental Science
• Food Security

Background:

• Livestock production significantly contributes to land use.
• Insect meat production presents a sustainable alternative to mitigate land use challenges.
• Accurate land use predictions for insect farming are crucial for national food production strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To classify the potential land use for insect meat production across 157 countries.
• To assess the impact of future climate change on insect farming land use.
• To provide categorical country perspectives for strategic insect meat production planning.

Main Methods:

• Utilized random forest machine learning algorithms.
• Employed previous simulation results for model training.
• Classified 157 countries based on potential land use for insect meat production.

Main Results:

• Generated global distribution maps of five distinct country categories for insect farming.
• Identified country land area as a significant factor influencing future insect meat production.
• Highlighted variations in land use potential for insect meat production under climate change.

Conclusions:

• The study provides a valuable classification framework for insect meat production land use.
• Findings can inform national and global food policies regarding sustainable protein sources.
• The research supports strategic planning for scaling insect farming to enhance food security.