One day soon, the sound of a cricket’s chirp could make your mouth water.

That’s what entrepreneur Elliot Mermel is hoping will happen. The 25-year-old is jumping into the emerging edible insect industry by opening what he calls California’s first urban cricket farm for human consumption in Van Nuys.

“I asked the question everybody else asks at first,” Mermel said Friday. “Who the hell is going to eat a cricket?”

As it turns out, at least 2 billion people worldwide eat insects as part of their diet, and the cricket is being looked at as a healthy, protein- and mineral-packed food source that could help sustain a growing global population.

Mermel said he stumbled on the idea when his friend was working on a graphic arts project for protein bars that included cricket powder. After further research, he learned that the livestock industry alone uses 70 percent of livable land and 30 percent of potable water, all the while emitting more greenhouse gases than the global transportation sector.

So he went to his parents with a three page-proposal stating the benefits of cricket powder. After he landed their support, he looked for warehouse space nationwide and considered opening his cricket farm in Miami or New Orleans. He settled on Los Angeles, specifically the San Fernando Valley, where the warm weather is perfect for the insect.

“One of the most important things Los Angeles has to offer is how forward thinking it is,” he said. “When you step back, Los Angeles was early in adopting environmental policies, and food fitness trends. That’s how we ended up here.”

While Westerners still are somewhat squeamish at the thought of eating bugs, crickets are a form of delicacy in other countries. Some of the best-known Oaxacan restaurants in Los Angeles already serve grasshoppers in tacos and other dishes, for example. But Mermel said cricket powder is increasingly becoming an ingredient for everything from protein bars and smoothies, to pizza crust and pancakes.

So he formed Coalo Valley Farms and leased 7,000 square feet of warehouse space at 7646 Densmore Ave. in Van Nuys. That’s where he plans to cultivate and process food-grade crickets in powder for sale to consumers, restaurants and food manufacturing companies.

“The tenant was seeking a facility close to the San Diego (405) Freeway that could be built out to accommodate this use,” Eric Nishimoto, a broker with Lee & Associates-LA North/Ventura, said in a statement. “Crickets grow from the larval stage to maturity in six weeks, and must be kept in different sized bins during the different stages of their growth cycle. We also had to be certain that the space was free of any trace chemicals that might impact the farming process.”

Inside, the warehouse will include 175 modified bins, each filled with a colony of 2,000 crickets. The insects like warmer climates, are omnivorous and eat decaying plant material, fungi and some seedling plants.

Cricket farms in the United States are not new. Armstrong Crickets opened in 1947 and was the first in the nation to supply pet stores and bait shops. But the first edible cricket farm opened in Ohio in 2014, and more are projected to start up this year.

Mermel said he and his team have found what they consider to be a humane way of growing and harvesting the crickets.

He said the kickstarter campaign and video will roll out in two weeks, and the first batch of cricket powder will be off to customers by August. Cricket powder sells for $44 to $55 a pound.

A United Nations report released in 2013 promoted the use of insects for human consumption as a way to help sustain a growing population without causing more problems for the environment.

“The case needs to be made to consumers that eating insects is not only good for their health, it is good for the planet,” according to the U.N. report. “Additionally, insect rearing should be promoted and encouraged as a socially inclusive activity.”

Mermel, a Rhode Island native who almost followed in his physician father’s footsteps, said he attended the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, but decided medicine wasn’t for him. He thought about the healthcare industry, but realized he didn’t want to be just another millennial staring at a computer screen all day, poring over spreadsheets.

He said the cricket farm business was an idea that became a reality because of good timing. Coalo, the name of his company, means to sustain and nourish together, something he said he could believe in.

“I met all these people who are excited about this idea, excited that someone from my generation isn’t just flying out to California to be an actor, or to create a new app or new social media,” Mermel said. “This is classical American entrepreneurship. You build something to solve a problem.”

And yes, he’s eaten cricket powder.

“It tastes like smoked almonds,” he said. “It’s got a nice, nutty flavor.”