Crickets thrive in Everson

Mark Reimers
Tribune reporter

  EVERSON -- The crickets sing extra loud in Everson, but you might not notice unless you visit Reeves Cricket Ranch on Hughes Road. There, just off the highway, Clyde Reeves continues the business begun in 1980 by his father in Visalia, Calif.
  After moving to La Grande in eastern Oregan in 1993, the farm developed on six acres for four years before Reeves decided another move was in order.
  “It was too small an area,” Reeves said. “There were no major airports nearby and there was a limited workforce.”
  With those limitations, the farm relied for a time on the mail system.
  The Reeves family moved to Everson in 1998 and established the only cricket farm in Washington state.
  The open space also allows room for daughters Alyssa, 15, and Courtney, 13, to raise horses.
  “That’s the way we spend our leisure time,” Reeves said.
  Crickets and worms (beetle larva) are shipped from the farm and sold by volume to zoos, pet stores and pet owners as food for birds and reptiles. A very small percentage of Reeves’ insects may end up in a university lab.
  Occupying a middle ground between Canada and Seattle, the farm fills a niche market. However, Reeves soon found the new location presented some unforeseen challenges.
  “It took us four or five years to adjust for climate and humidity issues,” Reeves said. “The first few years, we lost our tails.”
  Now fully adjusted, Reeves said he is able to take full advantage of the area. The Canadian market has provided a unique edge over other farms nation-wide, accounting for nearly 30 percent of sales.
  “There’s no other hatchery in the nation with that kind of advantage,” Reeves said.
  Every week at the farm, 6 million crickets hatch and begin their six-week life cycle. As they are moved from room to room on a weekly pattern, based on their age and needs, the crawlers generally stay within the confines of their egg-crate homes.
  The temperature in the room for baby crickets hovers near 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The other rooms in the building are relatively cool at 88 degrees.
  With humidly levels in all the rooms reminiscent of a sauna, it’s no wonder that the majority of cricket farms are based in the deep South.
  In his office Reeves has a map that highlights the locations of the nation’s cricket farms. By his estimate, there are about five major farms out of 14 total in the United States.
  The farm obtains 30,000 used egg crates every week for housing and growing the crickets. An additional 150,000 special shipping boxes a year carry the live insects from the farm twice a week. If an order is going to a colder area, the boxes will include 40-hour heat packets to keep them warm during the trip.
  The 50-acre parcel Reeves bought in 1998 was originally owned by the Holmquist Hazelnut Orchards. Reeves found a way to make the 40 acres of orchards work alongside the cricket farm.
  Since the crickets consume three tons of a special grain mix from Elenbaas Company, they also are the inevitable source of organic fertilizer to put on the orchard.
  “What goes in must come out,” Reeves said. “It’s kind of like a dairy -- we need to have a way of getting rid of it.”
  Three tons of cricket manure every week help keep the orchard healthy and certified organic, Reeves said.
  Growing crickets wasn’t on Reeves’ list of career choices while growing up. Both he and his wife Tricia were sports medicine majors in college. Clyde had been accepted to the Fresno State athletic training staff before he decided to switch to farming with his dad.
  While he loved training athletes, Clyde said it was an all-consuming kind of job.
  “I loved athletics,” Reeves said. “But if I’m going to work all day, seven days a week, I might as well be farming.”