Search
Better Farming OntarioBetter PorkBetter Farming Prairies

Better Farming Ontario Featured Articles

Better Farming Ontario magazine is published 11 times per year. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Flies that out-pollinate bees?

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

People rarely talk about flies and pollinators in the same breath, not to mention flies and farming, but it's time to rethink those relationships.

Using computer modelling, Alison Parker, a PhD candidate in the University of Toronto's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and her colleagues determined in 2013 that flies might be even better at pollination than bees because flies don't steal pollen for their own use.

Tasmanian vegetable grower Alan Wilson doesn't need a computer to prove the theory. Wilson uses three types of flies (and some bees) to pollinate the cauliflower seed plants that he grows inside a greenhouse.

Wilson breeds flies inside a hut made from burlap and tea tree wood, using carcasses that he "milks" for maggots. He grows out the maggots in trays made of the interior part of a coconut shell. "And there the maggots stay, in the bottom of the trays, because they're happy," Wilson recently told Down Under media outlet, ABC.

Austrian designer Katharina Unger also fancies herself a fly farmer – and thinks others can become one too. She's come up with Farm 432, a container to breed black soldier flies for their protein. In the container, which features many different compartments, it takes – you guessed it – only 432 hours to transform one gram of fly eggs into 2.4 kilograms of edible larvae.

"Black soldier fly adults don't eat, the larvae can be fed on biowaste, therefore the production almost costs no water or CO2," Unger writes on her website. BF

Current Issue

June/July 2025

Better Farming Magazine

Farms.com Breaking News

Ontario farmers get boost for energy upgrades

Friday, July 11, 2025

The governments of Canada and Ontario are investing up to $3 million in the third round of the Agricultural Stewardship Initiative (ASI). This funding will help farmers improve the energy efficiency of their operations and support the long-term sustainability of the agriculture... Read this article online

Swede midge and cabbageworm found in Ontario canola

Thursday, July 10, 2025

As reported on the OMAFA website fieldcropnews.com, Ontario canola crops are at various growth stages, ranging from seedling to full bloom depending on planting time and region. Winter canola is now fully podded, and harvest is expected to begin soon in Essex and other southern... Read this article online

Ontario crops respond to summer heat

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

According to the OMAFA Field Crop News team, Ontario field crops are showing rapid development as summer-like temperatures have dominated late June early July. The warm spell has accelerated growth and helped reduce the heat unit deficit from a cool spring. Corn fields have seen a burst... Read this article online

BF logo

It's farming. And it's better.

 

a Farms.com Company

Subscriptions

Subscriber inquiries, change of address, or USA and international orders, please email: subscriptions@betterfarming.com or call 888-248-4893 x 281.


Article Ideas & Media Releases

Have a story idea or media release? If you want coverage of an ag issue, trend, or company news, please email us.

Follow us on Social Media

 

Sign up to a Farms.com Newsletter

 

DisclaimerPrivacy Policy2025 ©AgMedia Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Back To Top