KEYSTONE – Like many farmers, Becky Herman bounces from enclosure to enclosure, feeding and watering her livestock.

There are thousands of them, but Herman knows some well enough to assign them human traits. Those two over there are bullies, she says.

And though she’s new at this gig, Herman has already learned not to name her stock, lest she grow too attached.

The Des Moines Register reports that while farmers are no rarity in this eastern Iowa town of 600, Herman’s operation stands alone. Her farm, the Iowa Cricket Farmer, is the state’s first insect farm growing critters for the purposes of human consumption.

It’s believed to be among a handful of cricket farms across the country capitalizing on a trend of health-conscious foodies munching on insects.

The farm’s 50,000 to 60,000 crickets have been raised so far to be breeders. Herman expects to deliver the first batch bound for human stomachs this summer.

They’ll be sent to Salt Lake City and ground into cricket flour for Chapul, the maker of cricket protein bars and protein powder made famous on the television show “Shark Tank.”

While there is inherent novelty to the operation, the Iowa Cricket Farmer looks more like a science lab than a playground.

The crickets’ diets (all organic) are carefully controlled. The water they’re given has been purified through reverse osmosis. And the temperature and humidity are closely managed.

Eventually, Herman plans to turn nearly 2 million crickets every six weeks.

“We like to refer to them as miniature livestock,” she said.

Herman, a Marion High School social studies teacher, isn’t some tree-hugging granola type. It took her awhile to get used to the idea of eating bugs.

She became intrigued after watching a segment on crickets on the CNN Student News show she watches regularly with the kids in her class.

Insect farming is considered more sustainable than traditional livestock. Because they’re coldblooded, crickets are efficient at converting food into protein.

They require 12 times less feed than cattle, four times less feed than sheep, and half as much feed as pigs and broiler chickens to produce the same amount of protein, according to a 2013 United Nations report examining insects’ potential as human food.

“Insects are reported to emit fewer greenhouse gases and less ammonia than cattle or pigs, and they require significantly less land and water than cattle rearing,” the study states.

In fact, crickets require 8 percent of the water it takes for cows to produce a similar amount of protein, according to Chapul. And the critters emit 1 percent of the greenhouse gases of cows.

“That’s really why we got into it,” Herman said. “It’s so much more environmentally friendly than traditional forms of livestock.”

Aside from their protein content, crickets deliver 15 percent more iron than spinach and as much vitamin B-12 as salmon.

“I’m learning all sorts of stuff about nutrition. I’m hoping this will be one of those things like, ‘Look at her before she started and look at her after, she’s so skinny and fit now,'” Herman joked. “Like one of those Nutrisystem commercials or something.”

Admittedly, crickets are not a mainstream food.

But they are being used by intrepid chefs and in a slew of pricey consumer products.

Chapul, for example, sells a pack of four protein bars for $13. Three bags of Chirps cricket chips run about $15. And a 3-ounce jar of Sal de Cricket, a cricket-based seasoning, costs $12.

While demand continues increasing for edible crickets, Herman said the supply chain is limited.

“Right now, it’s gourmet, and no one’s raising crickets,” she said. “Right now, it’s cricket gold. Eventually, it will be more like cricket copper.”

While about 200 to 300 farms raise crickets for bait, animal feed and pet food, only 10 or 15 across the country raise crickets destined for humans, said Kevin Bachhuber, who started Big Cricket Farms in Youngstown, Ohio, in 2014.

His farm oftentimes was unable to keep up, sometimes receiving orders 20 to 30 times over the farm’s capacity.

“The thing that shocked me since we started was how hot and and fierce the demand has been,” Bachhuber said. “It’s a really fast-growing market.”