March 12, 2015
After the UN Food and Agriculture Organization report, Edible Insects Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security, promoting the increase in consumption of insects was released in 2013, insect startups began appearing in the food and agriculture sector. However, these startups were faced with the challenge of safely and successfully producing insects, like crickets, on a commercial scale.
Oakland, California-based startup, Tiny Farm, launched by traditional tech world entrepreneurs, is building a business model for an industrial scale operation to produce crickets and cricket flour on a commercial scale that they hope will be a forerunner to crickets becoming a mainstream source of protein.
Currently insect farming is in its infancy, and without applicable automation or industry-specific equipment, the endeavor is highly labor intensive. By identifying bottlenecks in the process, Tiny Farm can use modern technology such as rapid prototyping to create solutions, and develop systems that will reduce human labor and increase scale.
The company is currently conducting a round of fundraising to fund their research and development facility, expand their technologies and begin the industrial scale production of cricket flour as they test their methods. The group expects insect food technology and production to grow quickly as a healthy and sustainable source of protein, and foresees turning their operation into a franchise in the future.
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