Why Crickets Are Better for the Environment Than Animal Protein

Have you ever thought about the global warming impact of breeding cows, pigs, chickens, or any other farm animal? Or even how many natural resources, such as water, are used from the production stage to being served as a piece of meat on your plate? For every 100 grams of beef meat, around 2,500 gallons of water are used from the nurturing period to slaughter.  (Senasa n.d.) And if we were to tell you that the breeding of insects like crickets in indoor vertical farms uses only 2 gallons of water for the production of 100 grams. That  is just 1 percent of that  used for beef.  Does that surprise you? 

Crick Superfoods is an Ecuadorian startup that is using Gryllus assimilis, cricket protein powder, as a raw material for sea salt and chili tortilla chips. We are now expanding our business model to have our own indoor vertical cricket farm. 

Breeding animals on a farm or in a corral is one of the oldest practices in our society; vestiges of livestock breeding have been found that go back  more than 12,000 years (Myers 1998). Today, we can see this activity in different locations: rural areas, far from large cities on a small and large scale, or even in residential areas with small spaces adapted to raise animals. Despite being a somewhat familiar activity, most of us aren't aware of all the natural and non-renewable resources that a cow needs to yield just 1 kilo of meat, a liter of milk, or even a piece of cheese. Or how about all the water that we need indirectly to put a bit of butter on the bread we have as part of our daily breakfast?

The consumption of resources on animals for human consumption is overwhelming. In the last 10 years, it has been reported that an adult dairy cow requires 5kg of food daily (MAGAP 2014) and up to 100 liters of water (Senasa n.d.) to be productive. This in addition  to the fact that just one cow generates up to 300 liters of methane daily (Casas, Estuardo & Hurtado 2021). According to the FAO (2006), this represents 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions on the entire planet per year (EnergyGO 2021). Furthermore, in relation to space, it has been determined that livestock occupies about 30 percent of the planet's land surface and about 33 percent of all arable land is destined for the fodder that these animals consume. (UN, 2006) In addition, the destruction of forests is focused on creating new pasture zones, an activity that increases the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere because looking for more space spreads the greenhouse effect, pollutes water and destroys the ecosystem of various species.

Nevertheless, our aim is not to encourage you to stop eating meat or to become vegetarian or vegan, but to be more aware of what you eat and how our daily actions regarding protein can have an impact on our planet. The alternative is to consume a protein of the future, a protein that provides more nutrients, minerals and also uses 70 times less space than any other protein, and that has been catalogued as a sustainable protein: crickets. These remarkable, odd insects are currently farmed in controlled environments in different parts of the world. We are focused on breeding Gryllus assimilis, a species that's distributed throughout the world and found on our continent from the US Southwest to the north of Argentina (Barranco, 2012). These crickets are bred in the controlled environment of vertical farms at temperatures above 80°F. We use technology to create a microclimate that mimics the natural habitat of crickets, including temperature and humidity. Their diet is controlled — mainly based on vegetables and cereals, depending on the season — along with the consumption of water and resources necessary to be able to fulfill their life cycle. On our farm, our crickets are grown from tiny eggs and nymphs to reproductive adults over a period of 45 days in which they are fed a mix of fruits and vegetables. The male crickets make their song by rubbing their elytra to attract the attention of the female and thus reproduce. A quantity of crickets are set aside for breeding, while the rest of the crickets are harvested and processed to obtain our cricket protein powder. 

On a monthly basis, Crick Superfoods’ farm is estimated to consume up to 50 kilos of food and 15 gallons of water for more than 100,000 of crickets in an8m2 space. Now, imagine putting the same number of cows in a space of 8m2. It is impossible.  These animals require a great deal of space and resources.

Cricket protein also contains three times more protein and five times more magnesium than beef, and has as much iron as spinach and twice as much calcium as cow's milk. It is a source of Omega 3 and 6 and vitamin B12 (Vázquez, 2019), which provides not only excellent nutrients to our body and nutritional health, but also generates a difference in the consumption of traditional proteins, such as beef and chicken. In fact, it is a useful protein that can be mixed with smoothies as a workout supplement or to replace a certain percentage of ingredients in any recipe. An  example is the formula for our nachos: corn flour, broad bean flour, sea salt, water and cricket protein powder. The original formula of a nacho is corn flour, water and salt. IOur 50g of CRICK nachos bag has 10% cricket protein. This is how we replace a certain percentage of corn flour with cricket protein powder. It’s a protein that not only makes our recipes tasty but also provides many nutritional benefits.

Furthermore, since we launched our company in  2020, our nachos have been our best-selling product. We have already sold more than 35,000 units in different supermarket chains, health community stores, airports and restaurants. We are also trying to relieve  the fear of consuming insects as our ingredient is 100 percent  ground down so that you don't even realize that  you are eating.The tasty flavor is what prevails in our product. 

Likewise, we are proud to have the ENTOTRUST certification, which ensures that we are sustainable in our supply chain, and meet high quality and food safety requirements.“ENTOTRUST is a global insect food certification program that certifies that these foods are safe and sustainable.” We meet multiple quality and safety factors, such as the absence of unsuitable chemical and microbiological elements, food safety consistency along our supply chain, the measurement of environmental impacts and social fairness in our operation.

Finally, we have analyzed the comparative advantages that cricket protein powder has in contrast with beef meat, in terms of low environmental impact and high nutritional content. We invite you to consume foods based on alternative proteins, such as cricket. Nevertheless, you have to be aware of the origin of the insect and even check if the brand has the ENTOTRUST Certification on their packaging, which  guarantees that the product meets all national and international standards in relation to food safety, sustainability and quality. If you are not based in Ecuador or in any Latin America country, we invite you to find other brands nearby that are using insects as part of their raw ingredients.  At an international level, more and more companies are using ingredients based on insect protein as part of their food formulation, where the insect is not seen and you would never think that you are consuming it. 

Now that you have the knowledge, what is stopping you from making the jump, like a cricket, from conventional protein to the protein of the future? Join us today and become a part of the new trend of tomorrow: consuming crickets!

(In collaboration with Carlos Picho-Paucar)

Avian Farms (n. d.). Manual del Pollo de Engorde. https://www.agro.uba.ar/ced-cursos/sites/default/files/pollos/Avian.pdf

Barranco P. (2012). El grillo de campo jamaicano, Gryllus assimilis (Fabricius, 1775), posible especie invasora para España (Orthoptera, Gryllidae). http://sea-entomologia.org/Publicaciones/PDF/BOLN_50/537538BSEA50PhoronGrillocampojamaicano.pdf 

Casas M., Estuardo M. & Hurdado M. (2021). ¿Las vacas contaminan? https://www.pauta.cl/factchecking/perro-de-caza/las-vacas-contaminan-cuanto-influyen-en-el-cambio-climatico

Elcacho J. (2017). Efectos de la ganadería en el medio ambiente. https://www.buenoyvegano.com/2017/04/25/efectos-la-ganaderia-medio-ambiente/ 

Energy Go (2021). ¿Cuánto contaminan el medio ambiente las vacas? https://blog.energygo.es/cuanto-contaminan-el-medio-ambiente-las-vacas/

FAO (2006). Livestock´s long shadow. https://www.fao.org/3/a0701e/a0701e.pdf

Entotrust (2022) The seal. https://www.entotrust.org

Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería, Acuacultura y Pesca (MAGAP). (2014). Nutrición del ganado bovino lechero. https://www.agricultura.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2015/11/Nutrici%C3%B3n-del-ganado-bovino-lechero.pdf

Myers M. (1998). Capítulo 70. Ganadería y Cría de Animales. https://www.insst.es/documents/94886/161971/Cap%C3%ADtulo+70.+Ganader%C3%ADa+y+cr%C3%ADa+de+animales#:~:text=Los%20historiadores%20creen%20que%20cabras,en%20Turqu%C3%ADa%20o%20en%20Macedonia.

ONU (2006). La ganadería produce más gases contaminantes que el transporte. https://news.un.org/es/story/2006/11/1092601 

SENASA (n. d.) Sanidad Animal: Consumo de agua segura y salud en vacas lecheras. https://www.argentina.gob.ar/sites/default/files/consumo_de_agua_segura_y_salud.pdf

Tiempo (2000). Dieta para engordar pollos. https://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-1291680#:~:text=En%20la%20fase%20de%20engorde,disposici%C3%B3n%20comida%20limpia%20y%20fresca

Vázquez A. (2019). La harina de grillo: proteína del futuro. https://www.mentta.com/blog/harina-de-grillo/#:~:text=La%20harina%20de%20grillo%20contiene,organismo%20y%20la%20recuperaci%C3%B3n%20muscular.