The sheep blowfly Lucilia cuprina causes about a R20 million loss to the South African wool and mutton industries per year. Insects provide us with food. Insects recycle waste. Dung beetles bury dung and prevent it from building up and acting as a breeding site for flies. Flies and beetles breed in dead animals and consume the flesh and skin resulting in nutrient recycling and cleaning up of the landscape.
Termites eat dead plant material, so the nutrients in the plants are returned to the soil.
There are numerous other insect groups that make their living on decaying organic matter. Insects pollinate flowers. The deciduous and citrus fruit industries depend upon honeybees to pollinate flowers on fruit trees and without this pollination we would have no fruit. Bees, beetles and other insects are also essential in the pollination of most wild flowers. Insects provide food to other animals.