If I’m ever trapped in a city under siege I will consider starting an insect farm. Until then I’ll content myself with correcting some of the misstatements quoted by Mark LaFlamme in his article about bugs for dinner (Sun Journal, Feb. 7). This is especially important since the presentation he attended was directed at school children.

The insect merchandiser begins his pitch with a list of reasons why he considers insects to be more desirable than beef. He repeats the usual groundless statement about water use in beef production, as if cattle are somehow exempt from the natural order. In fact, it does not take any more water to produce a pound of beef than it does a pound of dog.

Another misstatement has to do with insects as a protein source.

Insects vary in their value as protein. Their amino acid profiles range around two-thirds that of beef. Many, crickets included, lack one or more essential amino acids, which greatly limits their value as protein. It is true that there is calcium in the exoskeleton of bugs, but there is considerable question about its availability.

There are claims that it is far less environmentally costly to raise insects rather than other animals. This comparison is with animals in confined feeding situations (CAFOs).

CAFO production applies chiefly to cattle over a year old, and to poultry, hogs and fish. Of these species, cattle diets are the least complex, being largely based on corn.

The diet for insects is as complex and environmentally costly as that of any other confined species; it resembles the reproduction diet required by poultry and hogs. This is to say that it includes additional synthetic methionine (an amino acid) as well as animal protein such as fish meal and blood meal.

The diet for all the above CAFO species is derived from genetically modified, commercially grown feedstocks. If the insect farmer were to elect to grow organic insects he or she would be faced with the same challenge faced by all organic producers: it is more expensive.

All of the above livestock belong on pasture (we will except insects and fish). In the case of pigs and poultry, some supplementation is still needed. Cattle, by contrast, need only grass.

Grass is to be found everywhere, requiring only sunshine and rain. You don’t need fossil fuel to raise cattle since they don’t require grain when not confined in a CAFO. And grass, when grazed, is our most important method of carbon sequestration. It’s a win/win.

If insects are going to be eaten, let it be because of an enjoyable flavor or because, in times of crisis, one can find them in one’s basement.

Joann S. Grohman, Deland, Fla., and Sally McGuire, Haines, Alaska

Editor’s note: J.S. Grohman is the author of “Keeping a Family Cow.” Her article, “The Once and Future Organic Cow,” will appear in the Spring issue of MOFGA.

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