Fulbright Scholar creates a buzz at Southern Cross University

The Associate Professor of Horticulture Crops Weed Science from Purdue University (USA) is more than halfway through his four-month Fulbright fellowship at Southern Cross University, where he has been working closely with a team investigating the diet of the Black Soldier Fly and how it affects the by-products we derive from fly farming.

The Fulbright Program was founded in 1946 in the aftermath of World War II by US Senator J William Fulbright, as a means to prevent future global conflict through education and cultural exchange.

“The first treaty the US signed with Australia wasn’t an arms treaty, it was about cultural engagement. I think that’s really poignant,” said Professor Meyers.

The focus for exchange in this case has been Black Soldier Flies, an insect employed in waste systems in countries around the world, including the US and Australia.

The larvae of Black Soldier Flies are voracious consumers of organic waste, converting food scraps and agricultural by‑products into valuable outputs such as protein‑rich larvae for animal feed and frass, a nutrient‑dense residue.

A Southern Cross University project, recently shortlisted for a Shaping Australia award, is also investigating the potential of a substance on the fly’s exoskeleton called chitin to make bioplastic.

Professor Meyers’ interest in Black Soldier Flies began on his own small farm in 2021, where he hosted a composting bin as part of a student project.

What started as a practical waste‑management exercise soon became a research question connected to his work in the area of weed suppression: if Black Soldier Fly larvae can “eat almost anything”, would they eat weeds seeds, and what happens to weed seeds placed into a Black Soldier Fly composting bin? His early work showed that composting weeds with black soldier fly larvae significantly reduced germination in five of six species tested.

That discovery led to a new idea: turning frass into a ‘tea’ that could be applied directly to soil as a bioherbicide.

Laboratory trials at Purdue found that frass tea dramatically suppressed weed seed germination, with effectiveness varying by concentration.

Importantly, the research suggests that diet matters: the composition of the larvae’s food, whether organic waste, food scraps or formulated feed, affects the biological activity of the resulting frass. That work is being expanded in the Black Soldier Fly laboratory on Lismore campus.

“The work we’re doing at Southern Cross is really building on that initial work at Purdue, and whether the frass tea suppresses weed seed germination using local food waste and an Australian Black Soldier Fly genotype,” said Professor Meyers.

“There are about 16 (Black Soldier Fly) genetic clusters globally, and Australia has two unique ones, so it may differ from what we see in the US. We also need to asses the relevance for weeds of concern in Australian agriculture.”

It’s a project that exemplifies what Fulbright was designed to achieve: shared knowledge, reciprocal learning and solutions shaped by place.

About the Fulbright program

The Australian-American Fulbright Commission offers scholarship opportunities to Australian citizens across various academic and career stages, for periods that range from 4-8 months.

Applications for the 2027 Fulbright program are open now