With the looming drought and economic struggle, farmers and ranchers have been worried that there isn’t going to be enough water to raise any crops, ponds are drying up and there is a shortage of hay for livestock, and fuel and fertilizer prices are too high to make any profits in farming. Lyman printed off an article for me that suggest a potential export opportunity for rural United States. The article was published in Kiplinger Agriculture, and is titled “One Cash Crop Likely to Become Significant in the Years Ahead: Insects.” The article states that nearly 25% of the world’s population eats insects for a great source of protein, essential minerals, and healthy fats. The nutrition from bugs is extremely cheap to produce, as it only takes 2 lbs. of feed to produce a pound of insects, and could be very profitable for farmers in the United States. As a comparison, it takes roughly around 3 lbs. of feed to generate a pound of pork, approximately 4.8 lbs. of grain for one pound of beef, and a little over 2 lbs. of grain for one pound of chicken. I’m not suggesting that farmers sell all their equipment and livestock to start an ant farm, but if it is as cheap as research suggests, I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see a market for insect farms in the distant future.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:39:28 +0000
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