AgroPages-California OKs MBI's Venerate for use on cannabis-Agricultural news

Marrone Bio Innovations Inc. (MBI) announced that Venerate CG has been approved for use in California.

The Venerate CG label has also successfully completed review by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) enforcement office to ensure the product's use on cannabis is consistent with California Food and Agriculture Code 12973.

Venerate CG's active ingredient is a new species of bacterium, Burkholderia rinojensis strain A396, discovered in MBI's microbial discovery screen. It has both insecticidal and miticidal properties, and is listed by the Organic Materials Research Institute (OMRI) and the National Organic Program (NOP) for use in organic gardening and farming.

Venerate CG is also designated as "exempt from the requirement of food tolerances" by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a safety assessment that confirms that the active ingredient in Venerate CG poses no pesticide residue concerns for consumers and is also a designation necessary to meet an important DPR minimal requirement for use on cannabis.

Venerate CG can improve cannabis crop yields by reducing plant damage from pests by up to 80 percent. Recent trials from Farm Forest Research in Ontario, Canada reported a 10:1 return on investment in cannabis when Venerate CG was incorporated into integrated pest management (IPM) programs.

This liquid formula is highly effective on aphids and mites. Cannabis growers are happy with minimal (four-hour) re-entry intervals and zero-day pre-harvest intervals, allowing workers and home gardeners to quickly get back into their crops after applying the product, and to safely apply it to their plants right up to the day of harvest.

Upon contact with plant-eating insects and mites, Venerate CG stops these pests from feeding, and arrests insect and mite development, affecting their ability to molt into the next stage. Cannabis growers are readily adopting Venerate CG to control bud mites and aphids, while home gardeners and small farmers use Venerate CG for control of insects and mites, such as plant-eating aphids, mites, whiteflies, plant hoppers, beetles and caterpillars.

Venerate CG is often used in rotation with other pest management products such as MBI's own Grandevoâ CG bioinsecticide, which repels pests, and stops their feeding and reproduction. Both products feature multiple modes of action that are complementary to one another.

"We are pleased to report that Venerate CG meets the state's criteria for use on cannabis, as established by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation," said Lisa Malabad, MBI's cannabis segment lead. "Growers and gardeners now have an additional effective and environmentally responsible tool to use to manage destructive sucking and chewing pests."