Biobest subsidiary Biological Services in Australia joins forces with BioResources

In April 2021, Biobest acquired a majority stake in the Australian company Biological Services. Today, Biological Services and BioResources are joining forces to begin a new era of biological control services in Australia. This partnership will connect BioResources to a truly global network, with Biological Services being part of the Biobest group, which has subsidiaries in more than 20 countries.

BioResources mainly produce Trichogrammatoidea cryptophlebiae (MacTrix) for biological control of Macadamia nutborer and Anastatus sp. for control of Fruit Spotting & Banana Spotting bugs in tropical fruit crops. This complements the Biological Services Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to help commercial growers combat pests on intensive horticultural crops such as berries, tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum and ornamentals under cover and field crops including melons, brassicas, corn and cotton. The company also services citrus, stone fruit, almonds, walnuts and grapevine tree crops.

As the first commercial insectary in Australia established 50 years ago, the partnership affirms the importance of BioResources’ contribution to IPM in Australia and consolidates Biological Services’ position as the largest producer of biological control agents servicing all Australian states with over 20 different species of beneficial insects and mites.

BioResources Director, Richard Llewellyn, says it will be ‘business as usual’, noting the deal secures the long-term production of BioResources beneficial insects. “This is good news for our clients, staff and the industries we service.”

"We are really pleased to be working with Biological Services and are anticipating an increase to our service and delivery due to a larger combined network of knowledge, experience and field staff resources that consult to growers in every state." Richard said.

"I will remain as a shareholder and director of BioResources, continuing to work with our clients and consultants and will train Biological Services field staff in the key aspects of our IPM programs in Macadamias and tropical fruit crops."

Lachlan Chilman, Director of Biological Services, says that Richard has done a great job of developing some highly regarded, unique products and IPM programs completely from scratch, achieving excellent field results over a long period of time.

Lachlan noted "As more pressure is placed towards sustainable production, we know that the use of beneficials is going to be a significant part of pest control programs into the future. The industries that BioResources service are still growing in size and these crops help give our business some extra diversity and strength going forward."

The research and educational arm of BioResources will continue its work in a new entity, BioResEd Pty Ltd.