An organic fertiliser made from the faeces of larvae or maggots is being rolled out to farms.
The fertiliser, available at a cost of between $1000 and $1300 a tonne, is made of the faeces of the black soldier fly larvae after they consume food waste.
The product, called Superfly, is being used by primarily horticulture and vineyard farmers with some early interest from sheep and other livestock producers.
Company Bardee manufactures the product at its Sunshine West plant in Melbourne's suburbs.
Bardee head of sales Billy Alvin spoke to Stock & Land at the recent Future Ag Expo at the Melbourne Showgrounds.
He said there were multiple inputs and outputs involved in the process to make the organic fertiliser.
Up to 3.4 billion black soldier fly larvae were bred every week and killed at their highest protein level, at seven days old.
They were fed organic food waste and thrived in the controlled plant.
"We use black soldier fly larvae to process food waste," Mr Alvin said.
"It takes seven days for our process to go from food waste to fertiliser which is the fastest in the world by about a week currently.
"This limits any methane going back into the atmosphere from the rotting waste and it also recycles the nutrients from old waste into nutrients for new growth.
"It's all-purpose."
He said when the week-old larvae were killed, they were sold to small-scale chicken farmers or turned into insect meal.
If made into an insect meal, the product was sold to big pet food companies for chicken food and fish food.
Mr Alvin said it replaced unsustainable soya meal and fish meal, traditionally fed to chickens.
Once the larvae themselves were processed, it was the waste they left behind that was then converted into organic fertiliser.
"[The fertiliser is] the leftovers - the animal's castings or frass is what it's called," he said.
"It's like their poo, essentially."
He said the company was selling into almost every industry in Australia in tonnes and truckloads.
There was also a retail product for use in gardens, available at Bunnings.
"It's got a very good NPK for an organic product and has 240 million microbes per gram as well as a bunch of unique biostimulants that come from the insect."
Mr Alvin said the product was "totally organic" and certified by Australian Certified Organic (ACO).
"The guts of the insect is considered a break in the system," he said.
"So the food coming in doesn't need to be organic but the poo going out is."
He said the fertiliser "definitely" could be spread on certified organic farms.
"Our spreading rates go from 250kg a hectare for pasture or something that doesn't need as much and up to 500kg/ha for your horticulture," he explained.
"We sell a lot to viticulture, so wineries and things like that as well."
Mr Alvin acknowledged that the product was on the "premium end" but said it set up "healthy soil for life".
"It's about putting it on there once but we've had people do it as frequently as every four weeks and then we've had some do it once a year," he said.
He said a lot of interest was coming from older farmers.
"I think people that have seen that pouring chemicals on their farm isn't getting the same results that it used to are thinking it's time to make a change," he said.
"A lot of older people seem to be more interested in sustainability as well."
The fertiliser also holds water, further improving soil health.
"It's very coarse and absorbs a lot of water so it means that less water is needed," Mr Alvin said.
"It helps with your water management on the farm as well as helps with your soil structure which helps your water efficiency as well."
