Orchard helps insect breeder fight plague of rising energy costs

ENERGY management firm Orchard Energy has signed a deal to help locust and mealworm breeder Livefoods Direct tackle the rising cost of heating its insect breeding houses.

Livefoods Direct in Dinnington, South Yorkshire, is the UK’s only commercial breeder of live mealworm and is hoping to reduce running costs at its four heated breeding centres which supply live insect feed to the exotic reptile trade.

The centres produce 1.2 million crickets, 150,000 locusts and between 1.5 and 3.5 tonnes of mealworm dependent on the season.

General manager Steve Evans said the housing of these and other exotic species such as live morio worms, fruit beetle grubs, giant cockroaches and fruitflies meant energy accounted for 20%of running costs.

“We consume large amounts of energy in order to keep breeding and rearing conditions to an optimum,” he said.

“Rooms are maintained at anything from 20 to 37 degrees centigrade with frozen rodents for birds of prey and snakes being stored at minus 20.”

The firm was founded in 1981 by Barry Hammond who sold the business in 2010 to Mr Evans and former works manager Dean Jackson, now managing director.

Livefoods Direct employs 36 people across four sites in Yorkshire and supplies zoos, wildlife parks, universities, pet shops and herpetological specialists as well as selling online. In addition to its UK client base the company exports to Germany, Belgium and Holland.

“We have an extensive distribution operation that sees us running five temperature controlled vehicles to ensure the product arrives in pristine condition be it mid winter or high summer,” said Mr Evans.

Orchard Energy, which has its UK headquarters in Elland and further offices in Bradford, Cardiff, Bristol, Newcastle and Glasgow, will work with management to identify the best prices in the market and implement a strategy for proactive energy purchasing to protect the firm’s budgets from market instability.

Nohman Ali of Orchard Energy said the objective would be to keep overheads low so the firm could plan future investment and growth.

He said: “As well as reducing costs, we will be managing administration and supplier relationships so the senior team has more time to focus on what it does best – breeding insects and developing the business.”