Cricket Farming Analysis 

1. Cricket Farming - Protein and Fat

-Some calculations considering a 13,000 square foot farm:

• A plywood cricket farming box of size 1.25 x 2.5 x .06 yards produces 45-64 pounds of crickets through each development cycle (source: Cricket Flours). 

• Each development cycle is under 2 months (from egg to adulthood is 40-45 days, source: modern farmer)

• Each box takes up 28.125 square feet. Assume 10% of total area is for walking room. This gives 416 cricket boxes at the farm

• Each box on average will produce 54 lbs of crickets, so for one development cycle 22,464 lbs of crickets are produced (source: Cricket Flours)

• On average, crickets weigh 0.384 grams. One pound of crickets is about 1180 crickets. 

• For one pound of cricket flour, it takes about 5000 crickets, or 4.23 pounds of raw crickets (source: Cricket Flours)

• So that 22,464 pounds of crickets from the 13,000 square foot farm will yield 5300 pounds of cricket flour. 

• How much protein and fat is in a pound of cricket flour? According to the nutritional facts from cricket flour produced by Cricket Flours in Portland, one pound of cricket flour yields 293 g of protein and 80 g of fat. 

• 5300 pounds of cricket flour from one 2 month development cycle yields 1,574.1 kg of protein and 424 kg of fat 

• Keep in mind, this is with one layer of cricket boxes. These boxes are often stacked.

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2. Cricket Farming- CO2 Emissions 

Research is limited on CO2 emissions resulting from cricket farming, but a reliable estimate from the University of Copenhagen places crickets in Thailand farms between 1.41 and 2.29 kgCO2/kg of cricket. We will use the higher estimate of 2.29 kgCO2/kg of cricket

• So that 13,000 square foot farm that yields 22,464 lbs of crickets, or roughly 10,176 kg of crickets, will produce 23,303 kg CO2, or 25.7 Tons of CO2

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3. How many people could be sustained from this farm?

• Estimates say that the average adult male needs about 56 g of protein a day, so we will use this overestimate. 

• 1574kg of protein for 2 months yields 26 kg of protein a day. If it take 56 g of protein for one person, this can provide enough protein for 464 people! 

• What would be the GHG footprint for each person getting their protein from this facility? 25.7 T of CO2 over two months for 464 people equates to 0.837 kg of CO2 a person per day. 

• To put this number in perspective, estimates put the carbon footprint of a Big Mac at 4 kg of CO2. One single layer cricket farm can greatly reduce GHG emissions and provide enough protein for small communities in malnourished areas; if these farms were to be extended and the cricket boxes stacked, they would have great potential in developed areas as well. 

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