From Farm To Fork, As a UND graduate, Patrick started his first business, a window cleaning company, in 2012. Nearly five years later, he decided to follow his idea of farming crickets. “I decided I wanted to get back into farming, but by the time I realized that my parents had sold their farm. That meant I had to figure out how to become a farmer with no land, and not a lot of money to work with. A few google searches later I stumbled onto insect farming. Each new piece of information I found just made me want to learn more and very quickly I decided that that is what I wanted to do.” There are numerous environmental, nutritional, and other benefits to farming and eating crickets. Revier Family Farm’s mission is to help grow the practice of entomophagy (eating insects) for all its benefits. They also want to improve the processes used in raising crickets to reduce their cost and help make them an affordable nutritional option for anyone trying to feed their family.
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“There are two things that drive me. First is my family. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, growing up on a farm meant being able to spend every day with my family, and that was the best part of my childhood. I really wanted to do something that allowed me to do that again, and farming was the solution for me. Second, I love a challenge, and there are countless challenges when it comes to farming crickets, plus the whole idea of cricket farming is being used to solve other problems that are globally impactful. I have been raising crickets for just over a year now, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.” Although Revier Family Farm’s started farming crickets as a protein source for people, they actually serve a variety of customers and industries and are expanding to more. Their cricket powder is used by individuals who incorporate it into their baking, smoothies or shakes, breakfast cereal, even coffee or tea. Revier Family Farms also sells frozen crickets. There is no transport
