Patrick Shafer is a Food Systems Ph.D. student at the University of Vermont. He recently completed his Food Systems MS at UVM, during which he researched how farming and eating insects can help develop sustainable and circular food systems.

Insects play an important role in ecosystem food webs by recycling waste as nutrients for other consumers. Diverse food chains increase the resilience of ecosystems, and the same is true of human-made food systems. However, insects are discounted from Western industrial food systems. Patrick’s goal is to diversify and strengthen regional food systems by re-introducing insects to make more food with less waste. He aims to apply his diverse background - in advertising, cooking, baking, food education, and farming - to help understand and overcome the barriers preventing the adoption of farming and eating insects in the U.S.

His MS research studied the growth performance of mealworms reared on pre-consumer food waste from university foodservice, and the perceptions of insect-based foods among university students. For his PhD research, he plans to study the relationship between students’ perceptions of edible insects and the “terroir” effect of different regional pre-consumer university food wastes on mealworm nutritional composition, flavor profile, and baking characteristics. Patrick is co-advised by Teresa Mares and Yolanda Chen. He welcomes transdisciplinary collaboration and encourages anyone interested in working together to get in touch!