Scott Jost 

 

Scott began farming mealworms in February 2017, to feed his 6 chickens and a stubborn duck. As he joined more and more Facebook Mealworm Farming Groups he realized that this new hobby could actually be profitable. He spent the remaining 8 months of 2017 growing his farm and business. He got a lucky start when he designed an innovative mealworm pupae sifter, which separates pupae from larvae. He began producing and selling these sifting trays to other mealworm farmers, which has helped him raise startup funds for his mealworm business. He now runs Space Coast Mealworms out of his garage and is looking to expand in the next few months. 

Patrick Lee 

 

Patrick started raising mealworms and superworms in 2015 to feed his turtles, pond fish and some chickens. As the worm farm grew larger, he decided to sell them to make some extra money. He also researched how frass is great natural soil enhancer and started selling the frass.  He soon branched off into composting worms and selling their castings.  He also sells Horse Manure and Goat Manure to go along with the frass, worm castings and hascreated his own line of natural soil enhancements.  Patrick also sells wheat bran to mealworm farmers who are unable to find wheat bran in their area.

Justin Meyer 

 

Justin began his mealworm adventures in 2015 as a way to supplement the diet of a dozen chickens. He was able to keep the colony going for a year, and then his daughter arrived.  He started thinking about what she would tell people he did for a living (corporate 9-5 job), what sort of mark he was leaving.  Long term, he wanted to do something that left a positive impact for his child and his community, something that can benefit others.

At the same time he read an article about insects and their potential as a nutrition source for humans and how, with a growing population, our current mechanisms would become unsustainable. Insects could be the answer – low inputs like water, small footprint of space... and from there, it all just fell into place. He could take this hobby he enjoyed and turn it into something bigger and better, something that could benefit those around him.

In January of 2017, Midwest Mealworms, LLC was created. Production keeps increasing and new challenges come up. He is excited to be working with the Co-op founders and members to increase awareness and knowledge about mealworm farming. The best is yet to come.

Max Stafford

 

Max started his company because of a desire to feed his own chickens large quantities of mealworms. His well-fed chickens supplied him with an abundant amount of high quality fresh eggs, inspiring Max to share everything he knew with other homesteaders, thus Max-a-Mealies was born.