Europeans were simultaneously breeding the Banded Cricket and a Jamaican species as well as locusts. So it wasn't a problem for them to substitute with another species.

I don't think there is any commercial breeding of the black Field Crickets. I don't know exactly why but their life cycle is significantly different and longer than the house cricket. They may also not prduce the number of eggs in the same frequency as the house cricket. This may make them not viable commercially or it may be for another reason. There are probably about 10 cricket farms currently not producing in the US some for as long as 6 months, none seem to be considering Field Crickets so there must be a reason.

In the US that would be the only alternative as far a crickets go. It is not legal currently to bring in other non-native cricket species that would be more commercially viable alternatives.

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