Alejandro Parodi

Earthworms have potential to improve the sustainability of food systems by upcycling nutrients from organic residual streams to high-quality organic fertilizer and nutritious earthworm biomass for food or feed applications. Despite being traditionally appreciated as food by diverse cultures around the world and having been farmed on industrial scal...

Sustainable food system innovations are urgently needed to feed a growing human population while staying within planetary boundaries. Farmed edible insects have received considerable scientific and public attention due to their potential to improve food system circularity by upcycling nutrients from organic residual streams to nutritious food. Eart...

Insect farming is a rapidly expanding agricultural sector with the potential to improve the environmental sustainability of livestock production. A holistic approach is needed to use farmed insects responsibly and effectively with broad benefits across food systems. Full-text access to the paper at: https://rdcu.be/cZkdf

Reducing food waste and reusing it as animal feed are often regarded promising solutions to enhance sustainability. Hitherto, food waste policy assessments rarely account for interdependencies between reduction and reuse interventions, and how their market - including trade - feedbacks influence sustainability outcomes. Here, we apply a global agri...

Circular food systems are increasingly acknowledged for their potential to contribute to the transition towards sustainable futures. In a circular food system, the use of finite and limited resources is minimized, and nutrients in residual streams and inedible biomass for humans are reused as inputs in the bioeconomy. Livestock has become relevant...

Protected areas, such as the 17,000 km² Manu National Park in Peru, are important for vulnerable species such as the jaguar, and population studies are needed to understand their conservation status. We did a short-term study using 136 paired camera traps stations deployed in three blocks across an area of 820 km² in Manu National Park to estimate:...

Nitrogen (N) losses via ammonia (NH3) emissions from manure is one of the main environmental burdens resulting from livestock production. Feeding manure to black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) is envisioned as a new circular strategy to recover manure-N, reduce its environmental impact, and upgrade it into insect proteins to be used in animal feed. Howe...

Peru is promoting the adoption of agroforestry systems with the aim to halt the deforestation of tropical forests caused by smallholder farmers. However, deficient soil conservation practices and nutrient management are common among the targeted smallholders, hampering the success of this strategy. In this study, we explore the potential of valoriz...

There is an increased interest for using insects, such as the black soldier fly, to treat surplus manure and upcycle nutrients into the food system. Understanding the influence that BSFL have on nutrient flows and nutrient losses during manure bioconversion is key for sustainability assessments. Here we quantified and compared nutrient balances, nu...

The European Union (EU) livestock sector relies on imported soybean as a feed source, but feeding soybean to animals leads to a loss of macronutrients compared to direct human consumption, and soybean production is associated with deforestation. Here we show that 75–82% of current EU animal fat and protein production could be sustained without soyb...

Food system innovations will be instrumental to achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, major innovation breakthroughs can trigger profound and disruptive changes, leading to simultaneous and interlinked reconfigurations of multiple parts of the global food system. The emergence of new technologies or social solutions, the...

The attention for black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) as an alternative ingredient for food and feed products is on the rise. While many studies have reported the efficiency of BSFL to bio‐convert a wide range of organic waste streams into larval biomass, so far, it is unknown whether BSFL prefer certain waste streams over others when they have the pos...

Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are acknowledged for their potential to upcycle waste biomass into animal feed, human food or biofuels. To ensure sustainable BSFL rearing, insight into nutrient bioconversion efficiencies and nutrient losses via gaseous emissions is key. This study used a mass balance approach to quantify nutrient bioconversion effi...

Future technologies and systemic innovation are critical for the profound transformation the food system needs. These innovations range from food production, land use and emissions, all the way to improved diets and waste management. Here, we identify these technologies, assess their readiness and propose eight action points that could accelerate t...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0268-4 In the version of this Article originally published, in Supplementary Table 7, the energy and land-use values for mealworms in Thevenot et al. were mistakenly swapped. The correct values are 65.39 MJ for energy use and 4.31 m2...

Free access to the article here: https://rdcu.be/bdq1i Altering diets is increasingly acknowledged as an important solution to feed the world’s growing population within the planetary boundaries. In our search for a planet-friendly diet, the main focus has been on eating more plant-source foods, and eating no or less animal-source foods, while the...

Different animal species are active during different parts of the day cycle. Even in a same species, activity patterns can change geographically. This project shows the activity patterns of an animal community in Manu National Park and evaluate whether species fulfill the Van Schaik & Griffiths (1996) body weight - activity relationship, where smal...