Maggie's Farm

Die Welt, citing the German Meat Industry Association (VDF), reported this week that within the next four to six months Germany will face a meat shortage, and prices will skyrocket.

Hubert Kelliger, a VDF board member and head of group sales at meat seller Westfleisch said, “In four, five, six months we will have gaps on the shelves.”

Pork is expected to experience the worst shortages. The issues in meat supply are due to Berlin insisting on reducing the numbers of livestock by 50% to reduce global warming emissions. Experts are warning this policy will result in mass shutdown of meat-producing companies, and that will produce a 40% rise in the price of meat.

"It kind of tastes like kettle corn!" says Adaline Welk, 6, of the mealworm she ate. (Carolyn Beans)

On a clear August morning in southeastern Pennsylvania, more than a dozen adults and children stood in a park pavilion, listening to mealworms sizzling in a hot pan. They were learning about entomophagy -- the human consumption of insects -- from Lisa Sanchez, a naturalist with the Lancaster County Department of Parks and Recreation, who has taught the practice for 25 years.

Suddenly, one mealworm sputtered out of the pan. Six-year-old Adaline Welk -- without prompting -- popped it into her mouth. The crowd cheered for the newly minted entomophagist. "It's not that bad!" she exclaimed. "It kind of tastes like kettle corn!"

Sanchez encourages people to eat insects, in part, to lighten environmental footprints. Farmed insects produce far less greenhouse gas and require much less land and water than conventional livestock. Insects also generate more biomass with less input. Crickets, for example, are 12 times more efficient than cows at converting feed into edible weight.

Already, 2 billion people eat insects, according to one estimate -- primarily in parts of Africa, Latin America and Asia. The practice dates back millennia. "I always thought, even back in the '90s, someday, maybe, [Americans] will do this," Sanchez says.

Would you eat insects to help save the planet? These companies are betting yes.

The coming years may prove her right. The edible insect industry is ramping up -- one report predicts the market will reach $9.6 billion by 2030. Consumers can already find foods like salted ants on Amazon and cricket powder protein bars in Swiss grocery stores. Recent years have seen numerous media stories extolling the virtues of insect-eating.