Mississauga, Ontario and Sacramento, California--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2024) - Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. (CSE: BEE) (OTCQB: BEVVF) (CVE: BEE) (the "Company" or "BVT") is pleased to announce Agrobío SL commenced trials of BVT's natural precision agriculture system in December. The trial is a part of Agrobío's participation in the EU-funded ADOPT-IPM project, which is part of the European Commission's Horizon Research and Innovations Actions (Horizon RIA), a major initiative intended to boost the EU's growth and competitiveness in areas such as tackling climate change.
The ADOPT-IPM project is an EU-China joint action that will optimise existing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tools and packages and develop new ones. It will foster stakeholder adoption by surveying what they currently use, what they need, and conducting trials and demonstrations of new tools with industrial partners.
"The inclusion of the BVT technique for assessment as an IPM tool in the EU-funded ADOPT-IPM project provides this technology with extended exposure to a major audience," said Ashish Malik, CEO of BVT. "We will have access to agriculture industry players throughout the EU and China, which aligns with BVT's multi-pronged strategy to fast-track entry into key markets."
Agrobío is a bio-factory that produces beneficial insects for pest control and bumblebees for natural pollination. Founded in 1995 in Almería, Spain, Agrobío has pioneered Spanish bumblebee production and grown into a multinational business supplying growers across Europe, Morocco and Turkey.
The Agrobío trial is being conducted in greenhouse tomato crops in Spain, measuring the BVT system compared to traditional standard spray programs for efficacy in combating Botrytis (gray mold). It is using BVT's VectorHive system for bumblebees and proprietary Vectorite with CR-7 biofungicide. The trial will last until the end of the tomato crop cycle, which is approximately eight to ten months.
Spain is one of the largest fruit and vegetable producers in Europe and represents the largest market for bee vectoring in the EU. The country has a strong horticultural market that includes berries, tomatoes and stone fruits, grown outdoors and in greenhouses. Vegetable production in Spain reached about 16.39 million tons in 2021, an increase of about 1.21 million tons over 2020.(1) In 2021, there were over 400,000 hectares devoted to vegetable farming in Spain.(2)
"We are excited to showcase the benefits of the BVT system through the ADOPT-IPM project," said Enric Vila Rifà, Head of Research at Agrobío. "The trial will show successful adoption of IPM and measure BVT's efficacy. We will combine BVT for the best control of Botrytis and foliar disease with Agrobio's innovative russet mite and Tuta absoluta insect control technologies, and our intention is to build a platform for bringing this novel biological solution to large markets in Spain and beyond."
"After successful trials and EU registration, we plan to explore a commercial agreement with Agrobío," said Christoph Lehnen, BVT Business Manager for Europe, Africa and Middle East. "Adding the proprietary BVT system to Agrobío's suite of products enhances the value of what they can offer their customers beyond pollination solutions."
(1)(2) Source: Agencia EFE and Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence
BVT, an agriculture technology company, is a market disruptor with a significant global market opportunity in the $240 billion crop protection and fertilizer market. BVT has pioneered a natural precision agriculture system that replaces chemical pesticides and wasteful plant protection product spray applications by delivering biological pesticide alternatives to crops using commercially grown bees. BVT's award-winning technology, precision vectoring, is completely harmless to bees and allows minute amounts of naturally-derived pesticides (called biologicals) to be delivered directly to blooms, providing improved crop protection and yield results than traditional chemical pesticides - and improving the health of the soil, the microbiome and the environment. Currently, BVT has over 55 granted patents, many more patents pending in all major agricultural countries worldwide and has US EPA registration of its Vectorite™ with CR-7 (EPA Registration No. 90641-2) for sale as a registered biological fungicide for use on the labeled crops.
Additional information can be viewed at the Company's website www.beevt.com. To receive regular news updates from the Company, subscribe at www.beevt.com/newsletter.
BVT Company Contact: Ashish Malik, President & CEO, BVT info@beevt.com
The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. The words "may", "would", "could", "should", "potential", "will", "seek", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions as they relate to the Company, "annual revenue potential", are intended to identify forward-looking information. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect the Company's current views and intentions with respect to future events, and current information available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including: planted acres, selling price of competitive chemical pesticides and the US to Canadian dollar exchange rate. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking information to vary from those described herein should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize. These factors include changes in law, competition, litigation, the ability to implement business strategies and pursue business opportunities, state of the capital markets, the availability of funds and resources to pursue operations, new technologies, the ability to protect intellectual property rights, the ability to obtain patent protection for products, third-party intellectual property infringement claims, regulatory changes affecting products, failing research and development activities, the ability to reach and sustain profitability, dependence on business and technical experts, the ability to effectively manage business operations and growth, issuance of debt, dilution of existing securities, volatility of publicly traded securities, potential conflicts of interest, unlikelihood of dividend payments, the potential costs stemming from defending third-party intellectual property infringement claims, the ability to secure relationships with manufacturers and purchasers, as well as general economic, market and business conditions, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's Filing Statement dated August 14,2020, filed with the CSE and securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com. Should any factor affect the Company in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, the Company does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law. All figures are in Canadian dollars.
