Insects. They crawl on us, fly by us, and some of them will bite us when given the opportunity - but will they feed us?
According to Christian Aguirre, Executive Director of Global Chamber® Hermosillo and owner of Sonora Crickets, insects will in fact feed us as they play a key role in solving food security issues worldwide.
Christian spoke at our last Global Happy Hour held on 2nd and 4th Wednesdays, 5pm MT (next day morning in Asia), at Global Chamber® Northern Colorado.
The practice of eating insects is known as entomophagy. Aguirre’s interest in entomophagy began roughly seven years ago when the industry started receiving greater attention after the UN produced a report stating insects could be part of the solution to the anticipated number of people, livestock, and pets needing to be fed by the year 2050. As the rest of the world’s interest in edible insects increased, Aguirre pursued his own interest, attending training at Cowboy Cricket Farms in Bozeman, Montana to learn the ins and outs of cricket farming.
Crickets provide greater protein, iron and omega 3 benefits than beef. They also require fewer natural resources and less time to farm, and so more people are beginning to recognize the value of the industry.
Earth.com declared “Edible insects set to become $8 billion dollar industry in the next few years”, and the press has raved about bugs as the future of food. The expected growth of the global edible insect market is predicted to increase significantly by 2023, with a particular focus on crickets as they are considered the gateway bug for trying insects. Research and Markets reported in January that the edible insects market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 26.5% from 2020 to 2027 to reach $4.63 billion by 2027.
Christian intends to begin breeding his crickets in 2021 and have Sonora Crickets fully operational in 2022 with value added products being launched in 2023. He will achieve this through careful observation of best practice in Thailand, where cricket farming began in 1997, and as outlined in the latest document from the UN on sustainable cricket farming.
Contact Christian Aguirre through Global Chamber® Hermosillo at HMO@globalchamber.org. And reach out to us anytime including jumping into any of our next Global Happy Hours which you can find here.
Lauren Graziano - Global Chamber® Northern Colorado
Originally published at https://www.globalchamber.org/blog/2021/05/26/global-chamber/global-happy-hour-on-entomophagy-and-global-food-sustainability/
