Aspire Food Group has announced it is moving forward with plans to create a 100,000 sq ft cricket farm at London, Ont.
The company plans to commercialize insects-as-protein for the North American market. The plant will hatch, raise, and process crickets into a protein powder.
“This first-of-its-kind commercial facility will enable not just Aspire Food Group, but our entire growing sector to take an important stride forward in our mission to deliver an excellent-value protein at a fraction of the environmental impact of most conventional protein sources,” says Mohammed Ashour, co-founder of Aspire Food Group.
The company has bought 12 acres of land in Innovation Park, and plans to begin construction next month. The plant will employ about 60 people once up and running.
Insects as livestock use less land, consume less water and energy with lower greenhouse gas emissions than other livestock types, the company says.
“Insect protein is already widely consumer around the world. It is food,” says Ashour.
Related: From 2015: Would you like your crickets milled or whole?
