However, I agree that something like you described would also be great. I'm unsure if it's necessary though, because going down that road will require a lot capital and human resources. Could we use that for something more needed?
0: https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food
Edit: Added source.
Just switching animal proteins is a big change. And chickens are omnivores. Feeding them invertebrates instead of feed corn would be a more natural diet for them, and you can use food no longer fit for humans as the feedstock for those invertebrates without switching humans to cricket flour.
I know of a guy who uses cows, pigs, and chickens to control pathogen load on his farm. The lifecycle of flies on cow manure are very predictable, and with some discipline you can use it as feedstock for the chickens. We know how to do this outside, I doubt they know how to do it in a feed lot (although, making it work in a feedlot would necessarily result in better sanitation for the cows/pigs, since you'd have to isolate their waste chronologically).
Part of pathogen control is sending your inputs through as many diverse digestive tracts as you can. Or using a ton of chemicals. Mammal->insect->chicken->human is pretty good for eliminating parasites, though maybe not salmonella.
[ETA] Most of what I said about chicken feed is also true of pigs, although their footprint is somewhere between the two extremes.
Edit: Yup, insect farms typically use grains as the feed. Grains which you could eat directly (after baking or cooking, of course) which would be more calorically efficient. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/09/americas-...
If a fruit tree survives browsing by deer, for instance, it is much better protected from some very common diseases that overwinter on the ground under the tree.
Because of this, Mark Shepard and a few other people (especially that guy who wants to use cows in Africa to control erosion) think we should have about a quarter as many animals on our farms, but that every farm should have them. The animals are there to work first, produce calories second.
It's not a yes/no question, it's a matter of degrees. We should be eating less meat, and sourcing it from more places, and less worried about Grade-A cuts (fewer steaks, more stews)
