Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • FA L L 2 0 1 8 56 So how does one go about starting a cricket farm? As there are no existing cricket farms in the state to provide a blue- print, the Rolins pretty much made it up as they went. "We learned a lot from watching YouTube and a show called Dirty Jobs," says Kathy. "Like having a beehive, you can have your own little cricket farm." Adds James, "We've spent a lot of time educating the De- partment of Agriculture and the Department of Health Services, both of which have been surprisingly helpful and really have given us a lot of support." Since the crickets are considered food grade from the moment they're euthanized (by placing them in a freezer), a fully licensed commercial kitchen is part of the farm. In fact, the stainless steel kitchen takes up most of the square footage, with the hatchery occupying only 380 square feet of the 1100 square-foot facility. In the kitchen, crickets are processed and packaged for shipping or for retail. ey currently serve clients in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. One of their biggest sellers, says James, is their Chocolate Chirp Cookies. e thick, chewy treats, which they bake themselves, contain about 30 crickets apiece, providing some 10 grams of protein. And they're delicious. Aside from the cookies, the crickets are either toasted whole or ground into flour to be used by commercial food en- terprises as a protein substitute. e roasted crickets are roasted "low and slow," says Kathy, and have a crunchy taste not unlike roasted sunflower seeds. Upstairs, the hatchery room is humid and dim, the temperature maintained at a balmy 90 degrees. Around 150 tightly-lidded plas- tic tubs line the racks that fill the room, each tub containing about 5,000 crickets. Several used egg cartons and a water-filled Molotov cocktail provide each tub of crickets all the habitat they need, along with high-quality, GMO-free feed that in turn makes the crick- ets a clean, healthy food source. From newly laid egg to harvest-ready adult, the average cricket will spend 90 days in the bin. ere is no specific breeding season, so there are about four harvests per year. Since Cowboy Cricket Farms opened last year, Kathy and James have been able to nimbly pivot as the unique business model has developed. As a result, their focus has shifted largely from cricket production to providing training and expertise to their partner farmers, who ship their live adult crickets to them for processing. Interested people from as far away as Canada and Mexico have traveled to Cowboy Crickets to attend the training sessions they offer, which can run one day or one week. Like Kathy, James exudes an almost evangelical enthusiasm for cricket farming. Education and outreach have the couple traveling quite a bit, while simultaneously running the farm and raising their three adorable tow-headed kids. "It's been a great way to meet people and make sure they're on board," says Kathy of the training sessions. Another unexpected development has been the popularity of their cricket frass, which is the waste from the animals. Cricket poop, especially the potent, nutrient-rich stuff ex- creted by these well-fed specimens, makes for a superlative fertilizer. eir biggest customers for this primo frass? "Pot farmers," says James with a bemused smile. "Right now a huge part of our income comes from marijuana grow- ers." As more states continue to legalize rec- reational marijuana, commercial growers are proliferating. e frass market is booming, and the Rolins are happy to have the extra income stream from their cricket-farming by-product. I N B E L G R A D E , A C O U P L E O F YO U N G E N T R E PR E N E U R S A R E L E A D I N G T H E C H A R G E I N M O N TA N A T O D E V E L O P W H AT M I G H T B E T H E N E X T WAV E I N T H E F E E D I N G O F H U M A N K I N D. Jim and Kathy Cricket bins Egg cartons provide a happy home to the crickets. Shannon points to the cartons.

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