The benefits obtained from our ability to produce insects have encompassed a wide array of applications, from the early stages of examining different species, to the present day of mass production for multiple purposes. Perhaps the most prominent application to date is insect management for production agriculture. Much of the considerable knowledge humans have of insect biology has been made possible by first bringing insects from the field into the laboratory, and maintaining sufficiently large colony sizes on bespoke, empirically developed diets. The ability to conduct experiments without the seasonal limitations that normally bound insect life history, to control abiotic and biotic treatments, is heavily dependent upon a nutritionally complete, inexpensive and easily produced or procured diet acceptable to the insects. Nominally, healthy insects produced in this way are more likely to respond accurately in various bioassays, to better perform the desired ecosystem services upon release, or to act as nutritional inputs for other animals. Ecosystem services provided by mass reared insects include pollination, release of predators or parasitoids for biological control and releases of sterile insects to suppress pest populations. More recently, the usage of mass-produced insects for nutrient sources such as for human consumption, animal feed, pet food, stock chemicals, or valorization of waste streams has the potential to surpass all previous applications. Of course, food sources are not the minimum requirement for successful mass rearing. Attention must be paid to innovate and optimize many other inputs including reduced labor, close observation of losses at each life stage, mating and oviposition, appropriately shaped containers, lighting, scheduling and sanitation.