Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Monday, June 2, 2008
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. suggests that with over 1,400 insect species being eaten by humans worldwide anyway, the wild world of insects offers “promising possibilities both commercially and nutritionally.”
The prospect of tossing up a net and harvesting swarms of grasshoppers is a tantalizing idea. Rumor has it there are some areas of the Western States where grasshoppers could be harvested at the rate of 100 pounds per hour.
Harvesting grasshoppers sounds even more difficult than herding cats and a lot less fun. As there is no profit in herding cats at the moment save for the entertainment value, grasshoppers may be the better way to go for feeding the world, and making a profit.
To put this into proper perspective, in 1938 just one county in the U.S., woke up with 2-3 grasshopper egg pods per square foot, in their fields. That doesn’t sound like much until we realize each pod holds 60-80 eggs, or 200 grasshoppers per square foot. That’s an infestation biblical in proportions. An average grasshopper can eat more than half its body weight in vegetation every day. A swarm can eat an entire field in no time.
Some scientists are claiming adding insects to our diet would be good for us and the environment.
When I see the words commercial and devastation used in regard to the same insects…chills run up my spine.
What could go wrong? Oh where to begin. I don’t care if insects were the ‘original white meat’.
Photo Thanks: P. Durst FAO
Labels: Food Shortage, Grasshoppers, Insects, U.N. FAO
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
What Could Go Wrong? The Plague of Locust; Coming to A Dinner Table Near You.
