Middlesex cricket farmers call it quits

Flourish Farm’s cricket protein is ready for the world, but the world isn’t ready for its cricket protein.

The backers of the Middlesex-based cricket company have decided to close up shop, saying Flourish hasn’t found the buyers it needs for the insect-based nutrient.

“It’s just ahead of its time, and we didn’t have the financial wherewithal to wait it out,” said Alan Newman, a longtime Vermont entrepreneur who threw his support behind Flourish two years ago. “Crickets as a regular form of protein, not a novelty, are probably a good three, five, seven years away.”

Flourish started in 2014 after entrepreneur Steve Swanson read a United Nations report about the benefits of using insect protein to fight world hunger and environmental problems. Swanson raised crickets in the basement of his family home in Williston and entered some Burlington-area pitch contests to find investors. Newman, a founder of Gardener’s Supply, Seventh Generation and Magic Hat Brewing, saw him pitch his company at two events and contacted him in the summer of 2017 to learn more.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2019/03/31/middlesex-cricket-farmers-call-quits/