Capital Press
EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
Friday, August 20, 2021
Volume 94, Number 34
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Insects are increasingly used as a source of protein and other minerals for people, poultry and livestock.
PEST TO PROTEIN
How insects could revolutionize
the way we eat and feed livestock
By MIA RYDER-MARKS
Capital Press
S
POKANE, Wash. — In a commercial kitchen near
downtown, Joanna Newcomb delicately stirs a mix-
ture of taco seasoning and crickets in a metal bowl.
She dances around the small space, fi rst spread-
ing a thin layer of the insects on a cookie sheet, then
popping them into a large oven to let them absorb the spices.
“I always feel very strongly about getting each cricket,”
Newcomb said a few minutes later as she began to spoon the
fi nished product into brown pouches. Only a few small legs
and wings left were astray on the cookie sheet.
Newcomb is part of a worldwide movement — using
insects as food for people and feed for livestock. While eat-
ing bugs is a novelty for most people in North America and
Europe, insects and their larvae represent sustenance for more
than 2 billion people who live in other parts of the world.
Combined with a global population projected to reach 10
billion in the next 30 years and less arable farmland due to
development, the challenges facing farmers are substantial.
As they grapple with producing more food on less land, the
answer might be smaller than they think: insects.
Mia Ryder-Marks/Capital Press
‘And a side of bugs, please’
Newcomb is the owner of Chomper Cricket Foods, a food
company that sells crickets sprinkled with seasonings such as
See Insects, Page 9
Joanna Newcomb, own-
er of Chomper Cricket
Foods, spoons crickets into
pouches at the Feast World
Kitchen in Spokane, Wash.
Convoy delivers hay, fi re donations to Southern Oregon
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Holly Dillemuth/For the Capital Press
Ernie Madera and Mari Mock, of
Central Point, Ore., affi liated with
TimberUnity, delivered more than
50 bales of hay from Central Point
to Malin Saturday morning.
MALIN, Ore. — One year ago, as
wildfi res tore through the Willamette
Valley, ranchers in the Klamath Basin
extended a helping hand by donating
more than 170 tons of hay to feed dis-
placed livestock from burned pastures.
With drought and fi res now scorch-
ing Southern Oregon, the favor is being
returned.
Hay, feed and other donations from
across the state arrived Aug. 14 to assist
those same producers who received no
irrigation water this summer, as well
as victims of the 413,717-acre Bootleg
Fire that has destroyed 161 homes and
thousands of acres of grazing land.
Like 2020, the event was organized
by #TimberUnity and delivered via
what has become the group’s signature
fl ourish — a large convoy.
Trucks left the Portland area at
4 a.m., Eugene at 6 a.m. and reached
Malin — a small community south
of Klamath Falls along the California
border — by 10 a.m.
“These are our farmers, and they
need help,” said Tasha Webb, #Tim-
berUnity secretary and chair of the
group’s disaster relief committee. “The
donations have just been amazing.”
Once in Malin, the hay and feed was
delivered to Fred Simon’s farm where
he assisted with drop-off and pickup.
See Hay, Page 9
Holly Dillemuth/For the Capital Press
Members of TimberUnity from around Oregon de-
livered more than 300 tons of hay to Klamath Basin
farmers and ranchers. It was a returned favor from Wil-
lamette Valley growers after Basin farmers delivered
them hay in 2020.
NOAA: La Nina likely to bring relief to NW farmers this winter
Portions of the Pacifi c Ocean
cooled considerably in July, affi rm-
ing that a La Nina weather system
likely will form this fall, the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration said Aug. 12.
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Cen-
ter pegged the odds of a La Nina pre-
vailing in November, December and
January at 69%.
Most likely, the La Nina will be
weak, according to NOAA, though
the agency estimated the chances of
a moderate La Nina at 1-in-3 and a
strong La Nina at 1-in-10.
La Ninas occur when cool-
ing sea-surface temperatures trig-
ger atmospheric changes that shift
incoming jet streams northward.
La Nina winters are often cooler
and wetter in Washington and much
of Oregon and Idaho, while Cali-
fornia and other southern-tier states
are warmer and drier. La Nina could
mean a good snowpack for North-
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Who saw a need for Rural Lending.
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west irrigators, but worsen the
drought in the Southwest.
The U.S. Drought Monitor on
Aug. 12 reported that 95% of Ari-
zona, California, Idaho, Mon-
tana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ore-
gon, Utah and Washington were in
drought.
One-quarter of the West was in
an “exceptional drought,” the worst
classifi cation. California and Utah
are the hardest hit states.
An El Nino shifts jet streams
southward, intensifying winter
storms in the southern tier of the U.S.
and leaving the Northwest warm and
dry. NOAA sees almost no chance
that an El Nino will form this winter.
An La Nina prevailed last win-
ter, as Washington built up a good
snowpack that’s helping irriga-
tors weather a dry spring and
hot summer.
The La Nina faded last spring and
since then ocean temperatures have
been normal. NOAA expects the
neutral conditions to prevail for the
rest of the summer.
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By DON JENKINS
Capital Press