Regenerative Grass Fed Beef and Restoring our Insect Population

Insects are the quiet foundation of life on earth. They pollinate crops, decompose organic matter, recycle nutrients, and form the first tier of the food chain for countless other species. They are indispensable, yet we treat them as expendable.

The truth is stark: the UK’s insect populations are collapsing. Flying insects have declined by up to 60% in the last 20 years. The Bugs Matter survey, which tracks insects splattered on car number plates, has recorded an 83% decline in England since 2004. Across farmland, insect abundance has dropped by 37% since 1970, with the insects most important for birds falling by between 50% and 80%. Butterflies, long seen as an indicator of ecological health, tell the same story—80% of species have declined in abundance or range since the 1970s. The once-common garden tiger moth has declined by 89% in just three decades.

This isn’t simply about losing butterflies from summer gardens. It is the dismantling of the ecological base that sustains everything else.

We think regenerative grass fed beef presents the solution.

What Happens When Insects Disappear

The loss of insects ripples through the food web. In the UK, birds that rely on insects to feed their chicks have suffered catastrophic declines. Since 1970, we have lost 73 million wild birds, with farmland bird populations down by 60%. Swifts, swallows, and house martins—all aerial insect feeders—have seen declines of over 40% in just the last decade. Without insects, there is no food for them.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the collapse of insect populations is also the collapse of bird populations, and with them much of the wider biodiversity that makes ecosystems resilient.

Why Intensive Farming is to Blame

Over 70% of the UK’s land is farmland. That makes farming the single biggest influence on biodiversity here. Modern intensive systems rely on monocultures, heavy chemical inputs, and routine pesticide use. Fields are ploughed, hedgerows removed, wetlands drained. Herbicides clear away wildflowers, insecticides kill indiscriminately, and fertilisers disrupt soil ecology.

From an insect’s perspective, much of the British countryside is now a hostile desert. Fields of wheat, barley, or oilseed rape provide neither year-round food nor safe habitat. So the insects vanish—and with them the life they supported.

The Alternative: Grass Fed Systems

Grass-fed beef, particularly when produced through regenerative methods, offers a radically different approach.

Diverse Pastures

A healthy pasture is not just grass. Under regenerative management, it is a mix of grasses, legumes, herbs and wildflowers. This diversity provides food for pollinators and habitats for invertebrates all year round. Clover, trefoil, and wildflowers attract bees and butterflies. Taller grasses shelter ground beetles and crickets. This variety is absent in monocultures.

Rotational Grazing

In regenerative grazing, cattle are moved frequently across pastures. This prevents overgrazing and allows plants to regrow and flower. The result is a mosaic of conditions—short grazed patches, flowering meadows, trampled ground—all of which create niches for different insect communities. The landscape becomes dynamic, constantly renewing itself in a way insects can exploit.

The Role of Dung

Cattle dung is a microhabitat in itself. A single cowpat can host more than 250 species of insects. Dung beetles, flies, and other invertebrates break down waste, recycle nutrients, and provide food for birds and bats. Grass-fed systems, where cattle are not routinely treated with wormers and antibiotics, produce dung that is safe and biologically rich. In intensive systems, chemical residues in dung kill the very insects that should be thriving in it.

Soil as the Foundation

Healthy soils are alive with insect life—springtails, beetle larvae, ants, and countless other organisms. Permanent pasture, enriched by the deep roots of diverse plant species, builds organic matter and stabilises soil. This provides a thriving home for soil invertebrates. By contrast, arable soils are repeatedly ploughed and chemically treated, stripping them of life.

Why This Matters Beyond Insects

When insects return, so does everything else. Birds follow the food source. Bats benefit from increased insect abundance. Amphibians and reptiles find more prey. Even fish in rivers gain when aquatic insect life improves in connected systems.

The knock-on effects are measurable. Studies show that farmland with more diverse pastures and reduced chemical use supports far higher numbers of farmland birds. Insects are the driver of that difference.

It is no coincidence that the sharpest declines in bird populations are found in the most intensively farmed regions of Europe, while landscapes with grazing livestock and mixed pastures still hold more life.

Grass Fed Beef as Ecological Restoration

The discussion around beef is often limited to carbon emissions. But the reality is that not all beef is equal. Cattle on grain-based intensive systems contribute to ecological destruction. Cattle on regenerative, grass-fed systems can do the opposite.

They restore soils. They create habitats. They sustain insect life. And by doing so, they rebuild the base of the food web that supports birds and all higher life.

The collapse of insects is the collapse of ecosystems. Britain has already lost over half its biodiversity, and the silent disappearance of insects is a major driver. Birds are the most visible casualty, with 73 million lost in five decades, but the loss runs deeper—through soils, rivers, and food webs.

Grass-fed beef, when farmed regeneratively, offers a path to recovery. By restoring pasture diversity, protecting soils, and creating insect habitats, it strengthens the ecological base on which wildlife depends. This is not a side benefit of better farming—it is one of the most urgent reasons to change the way we farm.