Oro Agri: To Best Use the New MoA is the Success Factor for Biopesticide
Date:11-06-2017
Since its inception in 2002, Oro Agri has developed, manufactured and distributed a range of agrochemical and biological products for global distribution. Until now, Oro Agri is also the sole owner, notifier and source of the active substance Orange Oil. Carol Pullen, the general manager of Oro Agri Europe, has recently given an interview to AgroPages.
As we know, Oro Agri is the sole owner, notifier and source of the active substance Orange Oil. Could you please introduce details about Orange Oil, such as its function and application？
Orange Oil is extracted by cold pressing the orange peel waste product of oranges used for the processing of orange juice. This makes it a biologically derived renewable active substance, which is used in insecticide, fungicide as well as acaricide formulations. Orange oil disrupts the exoskeleton of insects and mites and breaks down the hydrophobic protective layer on superficial fungal mycelia, resulting in desiccation of the organisms for rapid curative control within 24 - 48 hours.
Today, Oro Agri serves customers in over 80 countries with its excellent products. What are the main market countries for Oro Agri? How do you think the emerging markets, such as China and Brazil?
Oro Agri has 5 main regions: The Brazil office and factory leads our Southern Americas group; the Fresno, California office leads NAFTA and Central America; the Netherlands office leads Europe, Russia, North Africa and the Middle East; the Cape Town, South Africa office leads Sub-Saharan Africa and Australia; and Asia and India makes up the last of the 5 regions and is serviced from China. Each region has adapted to the local market and regulatory requirements and closely works with growers to satisfy grower needs.
The USA and South Africa lead with adjuvants in their markets, Brazil with fertilizers, Europe and now China lead with bio-pesticides and also some adjuvants and fertilizers.
What do you think are the main challenges for bringing bio-pesticides to market and how to deal with them？
Biopesticides require a much more “hands-on” approach and value-added service often is key to success. Growers and distributors need to be educated on the new types of Modes of Action (MoA) and how to best use the new MoA within a program. With many biopesticides the pest identification, application timing, spray techniques and water volumes, special storage requirements, reaction time and, efficacy rates etc. are often very different to traditional chemistries. Agriculture as many have known it through the years, is continuously changing as is evident from the patent literature. The use of beneficial organisms has prompted the development of chemistries that are safe on beneficial organisms, yet harmful to pests. Unfortunately, in many markets, bio-pesticides have a negative connotation that it is often associated with the mindset that they are not as effective as traditional chemistries. Grower trials and “boots in the field” help facilitate transfer of knowledge to growers and distributors to ensure the new MoA’s are used correctly and programs are optimized to the point where, efficacy is comparable to those of traditional chemistries, if not better.
What are is the main advantages compared with competitors in the biopesticide industry?
Formulations such as PREV-AM® of ORO AGRI, are now proving that not only are products available which are effective on a broad spectrum of pests, but also simultaneously has a low impact on most beneficial organisms, and does not have any of the special storage or application requirements.
The further advantage is the curative MoA which is effective within minutes to 48 hours. The cross-protection provides PREV-AM® with a preventative MoA as, for example, product used to treat whitefly, will also treat any powdery mildew that might be present but not visible yet, reducing sporulation and breaking down of mycelia so extending the period to when an application of fungicide will be necessary. PREV-AM® is effective across all crop stages from bud break to close to harvest, and on various pest life stages, larva, nymphs and adults. Bio-efficacy results (GEP) have shown not only favourable results when tested against traditional chemistries, but often better results than traditional chemistries, and due to the MRL exemption of orange oil may be the only solution for items like botrytis just before harvest when traditional chemistries may not be used due to PHI.
Resistance management is key to our technology, with the physical mode of action, PREV-AM® is ideal for inclusion in resistance management strategies on a rotational basis in order toto break the cycle of resistance build-up to against conventional pesticides.
PREV-AM® is a versatile biopesticide that offers growers many benefits when used alone or in conjunction with conventional other pesticides, conventional or biological. When used in a tank mix with other chemistries PREV-AM® enhances the spray program by providing the immediate knock-down and reducing the pest population allowing the other chemistries time to optimize effectivity.
Used alone, PREV-AM® provides a different and unique MoA to add to a spray rotation to help strengthen insect, mite and disease management programs. With more food processors, both domestically and internationally, demanding low residue crops, the use of PREV-AM® protects the quality and appearance of growers’ crops right up to the moment of harvest.
What are Oro Agri’s development plans and performance expectations in the near future?
Each region has it’s own new development plans. ORO AGRI Europe has a new product in the development pipeline and we expect registration early/mid 2018 for indoor applications. ORO AGRI EU is further planning label extensions for outdoors in both the central and southern zones in Europe. The new formulation will still contain 60 g/L Orange Oil, however will be a new and improved formulation as we continually strive to provide safer products for both human contact and the environment.
Our USA and Brazil divisions are having great success with new adjuvants specifically targeted at the herbicide market. The organic adjuvant OROBOOST® is gaining popularity in USA as tank mix partner to facilitate increased efficacy of many bio-pesticides. Brazil will be focusing on ORO-SOLVE® which is a new Sulphur formulation used primarily in cereals and soybean market.
ORO AGRI is testing several new formulations combining actives with Orange Oil to produce a new range of IPM chemistries with reduced actives and higher efficacy. This is the future of crop protection and ORO AGRI is actively seeking partnerships for new co-formulations. As many large agri-companies are merging, we expect access to more duplicate dossiers which might become accessible to smaller companies, thus opening the door to new breeds of chemistries.
More Articles from AgroPages' latest magazine - 2017 Biopesticide Supplement
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