Micro-livestock are coming to a grocery store near you.

Insects (or micro-livestock) are already a significant food source and they often have superior nutritional profiles to conventional livestock.

Microaquaponics is the symbiotic integration of fish, plants and micro-livestock in a semi-controlled environment.

I have been vegetarian for over 15 years, but I have decided to make an exception for micro-livestock.

Gary Donaldson found the notion of aquaponics too limiting and he continued to promote a more holistic approach to small-scale food production through the inclusion of micro-livestock.

For example, a recently published study on micro-livestock by the United States National Research Council identifies species suitable for raising in the house or in a confined space.

Researchers last year found guinea pigs being kept as "micro-livestock" in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, which have endured decades of conflict that have left millions hungry or dead.

We'll also continue to do research on the most demanded species of micro-livestock so we can further our goal of helping people acquire the traditional foods they desire, at a price and frequency that will significantly improve their nutrition.

While microponics was also the name given to an obscure grafting method used in hydroponics, Donaldson's use of the term was derived from the integration of micro-livestock (and micro-farming) and the production of fish and plants - aquaponics.

It's not known how or when guinea pigs—native to South America—arrived in Congo, but CIAT researchers discovered them last year being kept as "micro-livestock" in the nation's hard-hit North and South Kivu provinces, which border Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

It has also been suggested that they be trialled as a potential microlivestock, as they are easy to raise in captivity.

Goats are considered small livestock animals, compared to bigger animals such as cattle, camels and horses, but larger than microlivestock such as poultry, rabbits, cavies, and bees.

Among livestock producers, poultry raising (for both meat and eggs) is most common, but cattle, small ruminants, pigs, and rabbits and other microlivestock are raised as well (Maxwell and Zziwa 1992).