Are crickets a natural food for fish?

Our friends at the University of Guelph are doing a research trial with crickets in fish food.

We’re looking to see how they affect fish growth, fish health and water quality on the farm.

Insects are a natural part of a fish’s diet. In the wild, young trout survive on insects almost exclusively for their first year. And here on the farm, our bigger fish can’t wait for dusk to jump out of the water for a tasty snack!

Crickets are a great source of protein, so they could help us lower our environmental impact even further. 

Trout, salmon and char are top-level predators in the wild, which means they need a lot of protein. (That is very different than other farm animals that can survive on corn, wheat and soy.)

We’re hoping that crickets could supplement some of that protein, so we aren’t as reliant on ingredients like fishmeal. We already source our fish feed ingredients as safely and sustainably as we can, but we’re always looking for new and novel ways to improve!

It has been tricky to find a reliable and affordable source of crickets in the past, but that seems to be changing as many industries look for more sustainable options like crickets, including chickens, pets and even humans!

And there is a silver lining to all this inflation, because our fish feed costs have soared 17% in the last year so that also opens the door for more alternatives!

What’s happening in these photos? Sonja Drosdowech and other University of Guelph students are grinding whole dried crickets into a coarse meal. The cricketmeal is mixed with other feed ingredients, then put through a machine that steams and turns them into pellets ready for feeding at the Ontario Aquaculture Research Centre!

We are very HOP-timistic, and can’t wait to report back!