Butterfly Species Available from CRES |
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1st International Congress of Butterfly Exhibitors and Suppliers |
The Butterfly Farm Tour |
CRES, the first commercial butterfly farm in Latin America, was established in 1983 by a former Peace Corps volunteer, Joris Brinckerhoff, and Maria Sabido. The business was started as a tenuous backyard experiment without a market, experience, technical information or, aside from a founder's meager Peace Corps readjustment allowance, finance.
For the first 10 years of it existence, CRES was the principal supplier of neotropical species to Entomological Livestock Supplies (ELS) in England. ELS was for many years the world's only, and later leading, distributor of living lepidoptera.
As the market for butterfly pupae has evolved, so too has CRES. In the past few years numerous butterfly exhibits in North America have opened. Several retail distributors in Europe have also recently established themselves. Most of these people have chosen to be supplied by CRES. This expanded and diversified market has coincided with a surge in the breeding of butterflies in Costa Rica by mostly rural campesinos. Though CRES continues to breed it's own butterflies for export, it also exports the production of roughly 45 other people located throughout Costa Rica. These breeders, each an individual entrepreneur providing his or her own capital, have chosen CRES to market their butterflies for them. Today, when purchasing pupae from CRES, one is supporting the livelihood of approximately 80 rural families.
Exhibitors and wholesalers find there are many benefits from working with CRES. First, a client is not dependant on a single source of pupae in one location. By "standing on 45 feet", CRES is a reliable and consistent source of butterfly pupae. Second, by harnessing the wealth of experience and knowledge inherent in its network of breeders, CRES can ensure the supply of an unusual array of species. Third, CRES offers its clients economy of time and money by requiring them to communicate with only one person and pay for only one airfreight bill although the pupae may come from dozens of suppliers. Fourth, with thousands of pupae on hand on any given shipping day, CRES can usually accommodate the requests of its clients for specific quantities of given species. Fifth, CRES bridges the language gap between non-Spanish speaking clients and nonEnglish speaking breeders.
CRES is one of the most sophisticated butterfly farms in the world. Proprietary software ensures, among many other things, that a client will never receive a species that is prohibited or undesired. Networked computers allows CRES to receive, sort, process and export thousands of butterflies in the same morning, ensuring faster delivery. Computer generated loss declaration forms make a client's claims quick and easy to process. Aging statements are sent regularly to assist clients in their accounting.
To continue improving the quality of its pupae, CRES is developing a series of obligatory one-day seminars for its associated breeders. Topics such as Wildlife Department regulations, quality control, hostplant maintenance, parasite prevention and composting will ensure that CRES' breeders all meet a satisfactory level of professional and environmental competence. CRES' breeders will have to have completed the seminar series by mid 1997 in order to qualify as "CRES breeders". For continued reinforcement, the seminars will be updated and ongoing.