Insects: a sustainable source of food?

Insect farming is environmentally friendly, sustainable and provides a healthy source of food. According to specialists, it could resolve the hunger crisis that a large part of the world population is going to face in a few decades. Another important aspect of developing the insect industry is that global warming could also be reduced. 

Insects do not really have a good reputation. Most of us are afraid of them, either because of our genetically predisposition to fear them, or because they represent billions of dollars of losses in the world economy each year.

Of course, if one finds a slug in their lettuce, they will not eat it, and may even end up literally too disgusted to eat anything else. But what if we looked at them differently: not like a plague, but like a remedy? A remedy to fix the world food crisis and to reduce global warming. They suddenly appear far less hostile.

Whereas eating insects is not a part of Western food culture, it is commonplace in about 80 percent of the countries on Earth, mostly in Africa, Asia or Latin America. Two billion people already eat insects in the world and this number is likely to increase as specialists have predicted the world population will reach 9 billion by 2050. According to the National Intelligence Council, global demand for food will rise by at least 35 percent in about fifteen years. This raises a big issue: how could traditional livestock farming feed the world population when it is not sustainable anymore?

Insects farming is environmentally friendly  

The meat industry is the most harmful source of pollution caused by human activities. Some figures are very alarming: a third of the earth’s fresh water is used in the meat and dairy industry, which is also responsible for 91 percent of the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and 51 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. At this pace, humanity is soon going to consume all the natural resources still available. To prevent the worst from happening, the UN gave some recommendations, such as to incorporate insects in our diet.

Insect farming is less demanding in water, land, time, and produces far less greenhouse gas per kilogram than cattle do. For example, crickets need no more than six weeks before being harvested, when in beef farming can take up to three years from farm to fork.

Insects are good for your health

Not only is swapping your steak for edible insects environmentally friendly, but it is also healthier. Insects are an incredibly nutritious source of food, which contains good fats, less calories, and more proteins or iron than meat. They are also packed with minerals, like calcium, iron or manganese. The latter contribute to a healthy gut and are more easily assimilated than meat.

 

Krista Scott-Dixon

Banana bread with coconut icing and made with cricket flour

A solution to the hunger crisis?

Today, one in nine people on earth is undernourished and every four seconds somebody dies from hunger. By 2050, extreme overpopulation will be a major issue and the traditional farming industry will not be enough to feed the global population. And whereas meat will be considered a luxury, insect farming could be a way to feed the people on earth sustainably and to fix the hunger issue. 

A business opportunity

With the prospect of a global food shortage, an increasing number of farmers, entrepreneurs and the food industry are expecting to enter this new and promising market. Some have seen the commercial potential in it and have decided to exploit this opportunity.

Next Millennium Farms is the first North American edible insect farm. It was built in 2013 by brothers Darren and Ryan Goldin. It is understatement to say they are not sitting idle. Their success has been so tremendous that they are now exporting their products to Canada and Europe.

Their flagship product is undoubtedly insect flour. This flour is very cheap to produce and looks like protein powders. Among their customers one can find Michelin-starred restaurants or food companies such as Exo and Chapul, which use it to bake bug-based bars. Crickets flour is also particularly liked by some food aficionados. These early adopters add it to their meals, batter, or morning chia pudding (see on Instagram) for its nutritional values.

 Next Millennium Farms

While fifty years ago, Westerners could not think about eating sushi or lobsters, because they found it repelling, it is thus more than likely that insects will be the next foodie trend. For now, this may be disturbing for some and it will certainly cause some reluctance, but in ten years most of us will probably have overcome our mental block. When this time comes, to ask the waiter for some fries with our locusts might become commonplace. 

Gwladys PEGON