Farming Insects For Food And Fertilizer

Farming Insects For Food And Fertilizer Entomo Farms’ crickets and mealworms make tasty food and their waste products make great fertilizer The young company is expanding quickly to meet demand for their roasted and ground crickets and mealworms “We started our first insect farm in January 2014 with a 5 000-sq ft facility ” says Jarrod Goldin Entomo Farms “By late 2016 we were at 60 000 sq ft and in the process of adding another 40 000 sq ft ” Goldin’s brothers Darren and Ryan are partners in Entomo They had previously run a company that raised insects for reptile food It was Darren who developed what they call cricket condos dark warm places they can burrow into in between visits to feeding stations The 60 000-sq ft facility is a retrofitted previously abandoned chicken barn At any point in time it can hold as many as 100 million crickets at various life stages from eggs to adults When mature there are about 33 million crickets in a 17 500 sq ft area or just under 2 000 per sq ft Mealworm numbers per square foot when mature has not been calculated “Getting the right density was the biggest challenge ” says Goldin “How many can we have in an area before they cannibalize or die off? We also had to get the food rations just right ” Entomo is completely vertically integrated from egg production to harvest processing and marketing Details of how they produce the mealworms and crickets are Entomo’s intellectual property Cricket eggs are hatched and mature crickets are harvested at about 6 weeks of age The crickets are frozen washed and then either roasted or powdered A similar process takes place with mealworms Even the cricket waste products – called “frass” – are finding a market “Frass seems to cause plants to bud more for increased yield ” says Goldin “It could be the most useful organic fertilizer on the market We are working with a university researcher to better understand it ” Cricket and mealworm powder or flour contains 70 percent protein more calcium than milk more iron than spinach and 20 times more vitamin B12 than beef At the same time raising 10 grams of insect protein requires 1/12 the resources needed to produce 10 grams of beef Goldin suggests substituting insect flours for about 10 percent of all-purpose flours in baking recipes It can also be added to soups salad dressings desserts smoothies and other items “Insects whether roasted or powdered are a great source of protein and other nutrients ” says Goldin “You can add a teaspoon of powder to a favorite family recipe and make it more nutritious and tasty ” Entomo shares customer recipes as well as recipes developed by in-house chefs Goldin says the insect powder adds an earthy/nutty flavor to foods It is also a popular protein alternative to whey-based proteins One reason Entomo Farms is scaling up production is they are starting to sell product wholesale to larger food companies At the same time they continue to wholesale it to smaller companies and sell direct to a wide variety of consumers Goldin expects demand to continue building Currently they have two farms and one processing facility with unmet demand in their area “We’re looking to partner with people in different regions as demand expands We welcome others who want to get into the market ” says Goldin Goldin offers FARM SHOW readers a coupon for 20 percent off when ordering their powdered or roasted crickets and mealworms Just mention FARM SHOW when ordering or use the code word “farmshow” when checking out online Whole roasted crickets start at $15 for 113 grams 4 oz Whole roasted mealworms start at $12 for 6 grams 2 oz Cricket powder starts at $11 25 and mealworm powder at $17 50 for 113 grams 4 oz The insects are also available in a variety of flavors and special packaging options as well as in flavored pet foods There’s a video of Entomo Farms at www farmshow com Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Entomo Farms P O Box 217 Norwood Ontario Canada K0L 2V0 ph 844 511-2847; info@entomofarms com; www entomofarms com

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