When looking into different food options for your pets, you may have concerns about the ingredients and the impact the ingredients have on the climate. Finding a sustainable source of healthy proteins and nutrition for your pets does not need to involve animal livestock products or animal by-products.
Jiminy's offers a solution that is nutritious and sustainable by using insect protein. By changing the traditional protein sources to crickets, it is possible to reduce your carbon footprint and feel good about your pet's well-being.
Lower Rates of Water Consumption
A key concern about sustainability in farming stems from the water consumption used by farm animals. Traditional farming for meat and animal products uses a large amount of water to provide proper hydration for the animals, clear up waste products, and maintain the farming conditions.
On average, 1,847 gallons of water is used for each pound of beef around the world. While some countries may use less water when compared to others, the average rate of water consumption for animal proteins has long-term implications for the future. In comparison, a cricket farm uses roughly one gallon of water per pound of crickets. The result of using crickets in dog food is a lower rate of water consumption in the production of protein. While specific water consumption for insects may vary slightly based on the type of insect, the rate of water consumption remains low in comparison to meat production from traditional animals.
Low Gas Emissions
Sustainability is not limited to the rate of water used for the production of food products or pet foods. It also relates to the methane and carbon gases produced in farming. According to the University of California at Davis, a single cow raised for meat produces as much as 220 pounds of methane gas each year. They also produce carbon dioxide as a part of normal breathing and activities.
Greenhouse gas emissions from crickets and other insects are far lower than cows or other livestock. Crickets produce less than one percent of the greenhouse gases that cows produce. While the rates are not quite as low in other animals like pigs or chickens, it remains less than 10 percent of the gases of livestock and other animals.
Due to the lower rates of methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide produced by insect farming, the concerns related to climate change from farming are mitigated. Crickets and other insects offer long-term sustainability in relation to greenhouse gases.
Fertilizing and Amending Soil
Environmental sustainability goes beyond the use of water and emission concerns. While insects offer benefits related directly to carbon footprints and fresh water consumption, they also offer benefits to the soil. Insect excrement, or frass, offers a solution for soil amendment.
Frass contains high levels of minerals and nutrients plants need for healthy growth. The rates of nutrients in insect frass are similar to other animal fertilizers or offer higher rates of minerals when compared to other animal fertilizers. It encourages healthy plant growth and allows plants to thrive.
Since it may also help with soil amendment, it provides a solution for demineralization of soil as well as problems with soil loss in certain areas. Farmers are able to use frass to as an alternative to traditional fertilizers for a lower carbon footprint and a similar or higher rate of nutrition in the soil. Since it does not have the same high rates of methane production while breaking down, it is ideal when compared to animal fertilizers.
Smaller Farms
Land requirements for an insect farm are smaller when compared to animal farms. Since insects do not need as much land to thrive, it is possible to raise insects on much smaller farms and get similar rates of nutritious foods. Since the farms remain small, it is not necessary to use the large equipment or tools used on larger farms, which further reduces carbon footprints during the production of food and protein.
Reduced Food Waste
Insects provide less waste when compared to traditional animal products and by-products in pet foods. Unlike animals, the majority of edible insects are used in the production of food. Roughly 80 to 100 percent of an insect is edible when compared to only 40 percent of cows or 56 percent of a chicken. Since the entire insect is used to develop healthy foods for your pet, you have less waste from the production of foods.
Insect protein offers a sustainable and earth-friendly solution to pet foods. Since insects use less water and land when compared to more traditional sources of protein, they are a great option for pet foods. They also offer benefits in relation to food wastage, farm sizes, and soil amendment, which further enhances long-term sustainability.
FAQ - Insect Protein & Sustainability
1. Why is insect protein considered more sustainable than traditional animal proteins?
Insect protein generally requires far less land, water, and feed and produces lower greenhouse gas emissions compared with livestock like beef or pork. For example, farming crickets can emit significantly fewer greenhouse gases and need much less resources per gram of protein than cattle.
2. How does insect farming reduce environmental impact?
Insects are efficient feed converters — they turn feed into protein more effectively than livestock. Some systems can use organic waste streams (like food scraps) to rear insects, helping reduce waste while producing high-quality protein. This efficient conversion and waste recycling help lower the overall environmental footprint.
3. What does “feed-conversion efficiency” mean, and why does it matter?
Feed-conversion efficiency refers to how well an animal converts what it eats into body mass. Insects like black soldier fly larvae have high feed-conversion ratios, meaning they need much less feed to produce a kilogram of protein compared to livestock, which decreases pressure on crop production and natural resources.
4. Does insect protein reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
Yes — compared with conventional livestock, insect farming typically emits much lower levels of greenhouse gases such as methane and CO₂, contributing to a smaller climate impact per unit of protein produced.
5. How does using organic waste in insect farming help sustainability?
Insects can be raised on organic by-products and waste (e.g., leftover plant materials or food scraps), allowing these wasted resources to be upcycled into nutritious protein rather than ending up in landfills or requiring new crops to be grown. This supports circular economy principles and reduces waste-related emissions.
6. Can insect protein support global food and feed challenges?
Research suggests that edible insects could contribute to more sustainable protein supplies by offering an alternative to resource-intensive livestock, thus helping address future food needs without excessive environmental degradation.
7. Are there limits or challenges to insect protein sustainability?
While the environmental profile of insect protein is promising, factors like energy use for climate-controlled production, infrastructure costs, and quality-control needs can influence sustainability outcomes in some systems. These are areas where ongoing innovation and optimization are important.
8. How does insect protein affect land and water use?
Insects require significantly less land and water than traditional livestock. Because they are small and highly efficient, raising insects spares farmland and freshwater resources that might otherwise go toward livestock feed or grazing.
9. What role do insects play in supporting a circular food system?
By consuming organic side streams and converting them into nutrient-rich protein and by-products (like chitin and oils), insects help close nutrient loops and reduce reliance on primary agricultural inputs, making food systems more circular and less wasteful.
10. Does insect protein still provide high-quality nutrition for pets?
Yes — insect protein is rich in essential amino acids and highly digestible, making it suitable for dog and cat nutrition while offering a lower environmental footprint compared to many traditional proteins.
