She Raises Crickets On Iowa Farm

She Raises Crickets On Iowa Farm LIVESTOCK Exotic Animals Instead of cultivating fields on her parents’ Iowa farm Shelby Smith took over a breakroom and office in the farm shop for her agricultural enterprise She purchased her breeding stock in January 2018 – 10 000 crickets By the end of the year she had about 400 000 crickets in 80 18-gal totes stacked in less than 200 sq ft of space in the two rooms At 28 Smith says she took her corn and soybean producer father’s advice to find a niche market After reading articles and hearing podcasts about the benefits of crickets as a human protein source she took a leap of faith and purchased 10 000 crickets without knowing if she would enjoy eating them Turns out that she does and as a power lifter she’s developed a line of nutritious snacks that appeals to athletic competitors as well as people interested in healthy food alternatives Appropriately she named her business Gym-N-Eat Crickets She dry roasts crickets and makes protein bars in a variety of flavors that satisfy cravings for crunchy and salty or sweet snacks “Sixty percent of a cricket is protein by dry weight compared to 30 percent protein in steak ” Smith says noting it takes about 3 000 crickets to make a pound “Crickets also have more iron than spinach more calcium than milk and all nine essential amino acids ” The rooms in her parents’ shop work well because they’re double-insulated and heated to maintain temperatures between 80 and 90 degrees Totes have screen-covered vent holes with egg cartons inside to raise the crickets from eggs to maturity in about 8 weeks Crickets lay 5 to 10 eggs a day and can produce up to 1 000 eggs during their lifetime in the wild She feeds her crickets chicken feed She harvests crickets by first freezing them then roasting and seasoning them for snack items or grinding them in a coffee grinder to make flour for energy bars Her products don’t contain gluten or sugar which appeals to consumers However she emphasizes that crickets are in the same family as shell fish so people with shell fish allergies should avoid crickets Smith is thankful for the support of her parents and boyfriend as she slowly grows her business She sells cricket products at farmers markets and from home through the internet Eventually she plans to expand into her own facility with a certified kitchen Contact: FARM SHOW Folowup Shelby Smith 20433 570th Ave Ames Iowa 50010 ph 515 686-7505; www gymneatcrickets com; gymneatcrickets@gmail com

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