SASKATOON – Production of the first biological herbicide registered in Canada has been trashed because of cost and changing conditions, said the president of Philom Bios.
John Cross said another $1 million was needed to get BioMal to production.
“The size of the market did not justify the additional investment,” said Cross.
The herbicide to control round leaf mallow would have cost farmers about $50 an acre. Studies show the maximum price farmers would pay was $20 an acre.
The cost “could never be justified,” said Cross.
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The biological herbicide was developed at Agriculture Canada’s research station in Regina. Philom Bios, along with its partners Dow Chemical and Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, licensed the technology.
Work on hold
The company first attempted registration in 1987. It was finally given five years later, in 1992. In 1990, work on the biological herbicide was put on hold until registration was granted.
By the time the Saskatoon company received registration the marketplace had changed, Cross said.
“The application of new products had helped suppress round leaf mallow and the market demand was not as fierce,” he said.
Round leaf mallow is an annual broadleaf weed which infests about 500,000 acres in Western Canada.
Cross said the $2 million and time already spent developing the herbicide to this stage was “not a waste of effort.”
Philom Bios has learned about production of fungal organisms used in biological herbicide, the formulation of spores into user-friendly form and it is now expert in the regulatory system governing biological herbicides.
Cross said it was a difficult decision to make because of BioMal’s effectiveness, but it was the best commercial decision.
