Are you ready for some bad news?

Despite significant increases in agricultural productivity, the world is facing severe food insecurity currently and in the future. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that 795 million people are suffering from chronic hunger. To prevent mass hunger and the chaos it would cause, agricultural productivity must rise by 60% by 2050 in order to supply the world’s food needs.

Many protein sources in the developed world are not sustainable. Recent research has shown that meat and dairy produce only 18% and 37% respectively of the calories and protein in the world, but those same agricultural products account for 83% of the planet’s farmland. The single greatest reason for wildlife extinction is loss of wild habitat.

Are you ready for some good news?

Orthoptera protein is the most sustainable protein in the world. Crickets have the highest quality protein, even better than beef. It has 100g more iron than spinach and the same amount of Omega-3 fatty acid as salmon.

One pound of beef protein will require 1700 gallons water. One pound of chicken protein will require 700 gallons of water. One pound of soy protein will require 5 gallons. One pound of cricket protein needs about 1 gallon of water. 

We don’t have enough resources to support an almost exclusive West-based diet of beef, pork, and poultry. We won’t be able to sustain the current world protein diet by 2050. The good news is that these challenges can be addressed by using edible insects such as crickets.