LOS ANGELES, Nov. 17, 2015 /CNW/ - For over a century,
chemical pesticides have been in use to control pests and increase
crop yield. However, chemical pesticides present a number of
problems that negatively affect the environment, as well as
creating health risks for consumers and agricultural labor.
Chemical pesticides can linger in the atmosphere, in the ground,
and in waterways. Furthermore, while the chemicals are meant to
fend off pests that are known to destroy crops, they are not meant
to be ingested. Along with being linked to various diseases,
chemical pesticides deplete the nutritional value and contaminate
crops. Studies have found pesticide residue in common crops such as
apples, lettuce, peaches, potatoes, lemons and
strawberries.
Due to an increasingly green-minded and health conscious
society, there is a growing demand for organic and effective
pesticide solutions within the agricultural sector. Bee
Vectoring Technologies International Inc (TSX-V: BEE), a
development-stage company that owns a patent-pending bee vectoring
technology, is on the brink of an economic and environmental
breakthrough for the agricultural market with their innovative
inoculum dispenser system.
Harnessing the Power of Nature
The development of Bee
Vectoring's revolutionary dispenser system began nearly 15 years
ago. While working on the company's bio control product that
controls pathogens and protects high-value crops, Dr. John Sutton encountered issues regarding product
delivery to crops that are in bloom. Through the recommendation of
a colleague, Sutton contacted Peter
Kevan, a bee expert. The collaboration of Sutton and Kevan
would later result in Bee Vectoring's sustainable solution that
both increases productivity within the agricultural market, while
removing a negative impact on the environment.
"BVT enables crop control through pollination without the
adverse consequences of spraying chemicals," saif Michael Collinson, President and CEO of Bee
Vectoring Technologies. "BVT was established with a view to
providing effective protection of flowers against disease organisms
and insect pests, which is critical for achieving high yield and
quality in many crops."
BVT's inoculum dispenser system is incorporated into the lid of
commercial bumblebee hives. The dispenser is a removable tray that
contains a powdered form of the inoculant crop control and a
mixture of products that allows the bees to pick up the product on
their way out of the hive. When the bees come into contact with the
flowers, they deposit a tiny amount of the Vectorite powder on
every plant that they visit - and they visit about 10 flowers every
minute.
"We have intellectual property rights and patents pending on
three principal issues: the delivery system which is the hardware,
the powder, which is the vectorite, and our own bio control which
we call CR7," said Collinson. "The complete system increases yield,
produces higher quality product and increases and improves shelf
life without the use of chemicals and water. The result is going to
be better for the environment."
Have No Fear of the Bumblebee
Commonly, bees are
feared and are seen as pests. However, a world without bees is a
world that is unable to feed itself. Commercially used specifically
for pollination for greenhouse crops, bumblebees have been in use
for over 20 years. These worker friendly and docile insects are
ideal pollinators. Most of their lifespan is spent collecting
pollen used to feed their developing offspring. Therefore, bees
come into contact with 70% of everything that we eat and are used
for pollination in 99% of greenhouses. Eighty-seven of the world's
115 most vital crops require pollination to produce fruits, nuts
and seeds. Without bees, the $3
trillion agricultural produce market would crumble.
Protecting this market has created the need for biocontrol
products. At a growth rate that's increasing 16% every year,
biocontrol is the fastest growing segment in agriculture. Typically
a found chemical product that is a natural enemy to a pathogen of a
crop, it could be an insect that eats another insect or a fungus
that attacks insects. The true secret to Bee Vectoring's crop
control technology is its versatility within that market.
"What makes us unique as a company is that we don't just use our
own biocontrol," said Collinson. "We can actually use other
people's biocontrols inside our system and deliver multiple
pathogen controls using one tray or one system, so think of us as
inventing a syringe, and in that syringe we can either put insulin
or antibiotics or all kind of different things."
A Year of Milestones
For Bee Vectoring, 2015 has been
a year of major milestones. In October, BVT opened the doors of its
Ontario-based, 7000-square-foot
state-of-the-art production and research facility. The facility
will produce up to $100 million
annually in products used within the company's organic pesticide
systems. BVT has raised approximately $4.2 million over the last 6 months to fund the
build out of the facility and to accelerate sales and
marketing.
Furthermore, the company recently brought on Mr. Ashish Malik as an Independent Advisor to the
Company. Ashish Malik, Vice
President of Global Marketing for Biologics at Bayer CropScience,
manages the portfolio of biological assets for the company and
advancing the strategy to develop integrated crop solutions that
include biological products together with traditional chemical
products, seeds, traits, seed treatments and services.
In addition to Ashish Mailik , the company has also added
Dr.Claude Fluekiger to the board of
directors and the management team. Dr. Flueckiger has extensive
experience in the agriculture industry and is the head of Global
Research and Development, Lawn and Gardens, for Syngenta AG.
To have representatives from two of the largest agricultural
crop solution companies in the world, Syngenta and Bayer Crop
Science, providing invaluable experience in biological and pest
control will allow BVT to fast track their product rollout and
industry acceptance.
Revolutionizing a Vital
Market
Agriculture is currently experiencing a modern
revolution, and the potential within the natural pesticide market
are enormous. "We're opening up a whole bunch of food
opportunities, and we are opening up organic processes," said
Collinson. "This should under all good conditions be a very
successful company. It's a very large business to be in.
Agriculture as you know is going to be one of the fastest areas of
growth. We've got to grow 70% more food in order to feed this
population over, roughly, the next 20 years."
The future of agriculture rests on the wings of the honeybee.
With their revolutionary dispenser system, Bee Vectoring is sure to
be the buzz of the industry.
For more information about Bee Vectoring Technologies,
visit www.beevt.com
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