Ottawa's big bet on world's largest cricket farm ran into a simple problem: the 'yuck factor'
The business of insect farming was supposed to grow big and fast.
In London, Ont., that promise took shape in Aspire Food Group Canada. Billed as the world's largest cricket farm, it was a 150,000-square-foot, fully automated facility designed to house billions of insects and produce millions of kilograms of protein each year.
Crickets are touted as a low-carbon protein source, requiring less farmland than traditional livestock and offering the potential to address world food insecurity.
The idea had global backing. In 2013, it won the $1-million US Hult Prize, presented by former U.S. president Bill Clinton. It went on to attract investors from the United States, Canada, Ireland and South Korea, along with tens of millions of dollars in federal loans and grants.
The facility came online in 2022, entered receivership in 2025 and it remains unclear how much public money was recovered. The final sale price is secret. It's still sealed by court order.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-aspire-food-cricket-farm-9.7136152
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Sometimes, if you build it, they won't come. Tens of millions of government dollars down the drain for a pipe dream.
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