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September 23, 2025
If you’re a farmer or you work in the bagged and bulk animal feed industry, there’s nothing more heartbreaking than
With herbivorous insects thought to be responsible for destroying one–fifth of global food production, insect pest control is a passion of ours. We always start with prevention – then changes to housekeeping and maintenance will have a significant impact.
Around half of all animals alive on the planet are insects, and they represent the largest classification group. But not all are pests. Insects include moths, flies, wasps, beetles, bed bugs, weevils, booklice, mites and ants. (Anyone itching yet?)
Our insect team spends about 70% of their time working in agricultural areas but also supports catering, schools, healthcare, hotels and more. After all, insect pests can be everywhere. Often working in partnership with our fumigation team, an effective strategy is introduced to prevent and control insect pest issues. We always start with prevention and changes to housekeeping and maintenance will have a significant impact.
We refer to SPIs – Store Product Insects. These are the ones that will be responsible for destroying one-fifth of global food production.
The strategy and solutions we introduce will depend on the insect and the environment, but broadly speaking, we deal with:
Dealey believes in prevention and proofing first. Sometimes insecticides and chemicals may be the only solution, but with care and specialist review, we believe it is possible to eliminate the risk and deal with insect pests in an environmentally safe way. We set traps, monitor and review, and work with our fumigation team if needed.
This could be improved waste management and be as simple as tying bags and storing them differently, or removing them from the site quicker.
Cleaning regimes, and specialist deep cleans, can be introduced.
Stagnant water or poor storage both encourage insect pests and are normally easy to deal with.
Flying insects may be entering through open windows or door entry systems. Having a simple fly screen, or different procedure at entry points, can reduce the risk.
Grain and food may enter the store already contaminated, bringing in an insect population.
Building maintenance can be improved as a deterrent.
Pheromone confusers can reduce or eliminate reproduction
Heat treatment can make the temperature untenable for insect pests
Stock rotation can ensure that areas are disturbed, cleaned and maintained discouraging pests
Cleaning will also create a hostile environment
Fumigation can be used with other strategies if the population has grown and the life cycle stage requires it.
Moths can be very damaging. The larvae spend up to five months causing contamination, with the mature moth living for a week reproducing.
Insect population growth is rapid and in vast numbers. Often, as with moths, the damage is not with the adult insect, but at the larvae stage. Our approach will prevent mature insects from reproducing, and remove the food source for the larvae, slowing, and ceasing population growth.
Using innovative methods and creative bespoke solutions, we eradicate pest issues. Your site technician will be supported by the Dealey team of committed and passionate pest controllers.
Our qualified and licensed team of professionals manage bird populations to minimise conflicts between human and bird activities.
We provide fumigation services across the country in various environments including agriculture, education, logistics, transport and food supply chain locations. Fumigation is highly specialised and should only be undertaken by qualified experts – which we are!
Dealey has been providing pest control services and expert advice for over 60 years. With an ethos based on excellence, striving to find new and innovative solutions and always loving what we do, Dealey is headed up by Martin Cobbald, a global go-to expert in all this pest-related.
A small team of highly trained fumigators, we consistently operate to a very high standard and always aim to improve and innovate. Our technicians are all pest geeks with an embarrassment of riches in insect knowledge. All of us come from a farming and fumigation background, meaning you will always get solutions that are as practical as they are technically proficient.
Find out about the latest technology and methods, how pests are responsible for a fifth of the world’s food production, and all things creepy crawly from the Dealey team of pest geeks.
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Whether you would like a chat to find out more, talk through options, or arrange a site visit so we can see how we can help, we would love to hear from you.