Real IPM UK News

If you wanted a place and time to feel the momentum of biopesticides for use in Europe then the AG-Bio Conference held in Amsterdam this month was a very good starting point. From all across Europe, the United States and Canada, speakers and specialists gathered to discuss uniting science and regulation to drive forward biopesticide production.

“It was really useful to be invited to take part in the conference “ says REAL IPM UK Managing Director Antony Pearce. “You could feel the momentum that will see biopesticides approved for use in Europe in the not too distant future.”

On January 1st 2016 the Netherlands will take on their six month tenure of the Presidency of the EU. According to Dr Martine C. Lans, Product Manager for the Board of Authorisation of Plant Protection Products and Biocides, speaking at AG-Bio 2015, biopesticide registration in Europe is a number one priority for the presidential term.

“There is a fast track system to get products to market”, Lans confirmed. “We will resolve the problem that has delayed its use for this new generation of farm inputs so the more biopesticides can come to the market sooner.”

For commercial biopesticide initiatives, there was advice on the methods most likely to succeed. Imme Gerke, Global Regulator Strategist, IDRG Germany, chose to outline at AG-Bio that the most effective way to share information about products for registration is through the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) data packs. This is the very business model that is used by Real IPM UK.

For REAL IPM’s Antony Pearce Imme Gerke’s analysis was music to his ears. “It was heartening to hear one of the world’s leading specialists in product regulation give such an emphatic endorsement of our policy. We  have an ‘open source’ approach, being crowd-funded by farmer investors and open to other countries being able to use the data packs to get registration of our products.”

In his presentation at the conference Antony Pearce took to the speaker’s podium to share the Real IPM UK story. “I outlined why growers need real biopesticides, the urgent need for biological alternatives to chemical pesticides (because of resistance of pests and diseases and banning of many active ingredients and demands for reduction in pesticide residues) and the low retail prices for biopesticides allowing growers to make weekly applications and reduce chemical applications by up to 50%. The time for biopesticides is now.”