There are no cows or chickens down on Entocycle’s farm; it focuses on an altogether different category of livestock – insects.

The business, which was launched in 2016, is now at the forefront of the UK’s growing insect farming sector.

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“Everyone goes to black soldier fly larvae. They are the fastest producers, the most hardy and they can eat the widest range of food,” says [Entocycle founder and chief executive Keiran] Whitaker.

The main reason for the insect’s popularity with animal feed producers is their rapid growth: the flies can grow to 5,000 times their body weight in as little as 12 days, from neonates less than a millimetre long to inch-long edible larvae. Females can produce between 600 and 1,000 eggs each, which adds to their selling point as efficient protein creators.

A 2020 study by the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa found that half a hectare of the larvae can produce more protein than 52 hectares of soya beans.

But it is not only as a food that the flies help the planet. They eat almost anything, so could provide a key solution for waste management companies, restaurants and supermarkets.

“We waste 40% of the food we produce,” says Whitaker, who is now in contract talks with supermarket and restaurant chains as well as waste management companies.

“What you want to see in the long term is essentially every type of waste stream, including animal manure, being fed into what would essentially be an insect bioreactor that turns waste into animal, pet, or human food.”

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