Sericulture as a sustainable agroindustry

The rich history of silk production (or sericulture) spans over five millennia. The sericulture industry supports jobs, economic development and health and begins with cultivation of mulberry trees with their manifold uses, including production of leaves as food for silkworms. Sericulture culminates in the production of high-quality silk thread as well as high-protein food for humans and animals. It depends, in turn, on one of the most versatile plants known, with additional benefits ranging from enhancing human health to soil conservation. Sericulture represents a rare end-to-end sustainable industry with minimal ecological impact when care is taken with supply chain management. Silk itself is a naturally versatile polymer, known as poly-fibroin, with the versatility of plastic and the advantage of biodegradability. With new developments in (bio)-harvesting technology, markets can now gain access to the single protein monomer, silk fibroin, solubilized in water, at large production scales. We can therefore envision a sustainable silk-derivatives industry that supports the replacement of petrochemicals with compounds derived from fibroin, in applications ranging from common everyday health and wellness products to advanced biopharmaceuticals and implants.