Biological controls are growing in popularity but still account for a tiny portion of the pesticide market.
According to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, there are about 400 biopesticides registered for use in Canada. The agency says it has noticed more interest in the products based on the number of applications it receives.
But while there has been a rise in the number of biological controls, they still only account for an estimated one percent of pesticide sales, said Peter MacLeod, vice-president of chemistry with CropLife Canada.
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The trade association said that share could grow with the consumer push for more benign control products and new government programs designed to support research and development and reduce evaluation time for such products.
Biopesticides have traditionally been popular with organic farmers and fruit and vegetable growers. New products are being developed that should have more mass appeal.
Bacillus thuringenisis is the most common biopesticide. It is used to control everything from budworms to mosquitoes and has been used to create Bt corn and soybean crops.
But the industry has yet to produce a blockbuster product that would vault biopesticides from niche to mainstream.
“There just hasn’t been one yet,” said MacLeod.
Plant Products Co. Ltd. hopes it has found one. The company recently received registration for a new fungus-based biological pesticide to control soil-borne sclerotinia diseases.
Contans WG has been registered for soybeans, canola, sunflower, safflower, beans, lettuce, carrots, snap beans, cabbage, tomato and celery.
Plant Products has a distribution agreement with German-based manufacturer Prophyta GmbH to sell the product in Eastern Canada. It has also worked out a deal to supply Western Canada until the manufacturer completes an agreement with a different distributor for that market.
Martin Kiefer, product manager with Plant Products, is pleased with the early sales for a control product that is unfamiliar to many growers.
“It’s a complete rethinking of pest control,” he said.
Contans WG is made up of spores of a naturally occurring soil fungus called Coniothyrium minitans. When applied to the soil at or before planting time, the product will eliminate 90 to 95 percent of sclerotinia in the treated soil layer.
“Sclerotinia, also known as white mould, is a highly damaging group of diseases that can severely reduce yields in the field and the quality of harvested crops in storage,” said Kiefer.
“I don’t think it’s an understatement to say that you can easily lose 20 percent of your crop.”
In a crop like soybeans there are no conventional pesticides to control white mould and in other crops the current products on the market can be overwhelmed by disease pressure.
Contans attacks the resting bodies in the soil that produce the sclerotinia spores. It might not eliminate the disease but it will make it more manageable with conventional fungicides.
“We don’t see ourselves as competition to the big chemistries that are out there. We see ourselves as complementary to them,” said Kiefer.
He said technology has evolved to the point where it is possible to produce large quantities of fungus-based biologicals in a pure enough form to make them economically feasible. Meanwhile, the cost of producing chemical pesticides continues to rise.
“It’s starting to bring these natural products in line with the synthetics,” he said.
The cost of applying Contans ranges from $10 to $60 an acre, depending on the application rate and when it is applied. It can be applied at planting or after harvest.
The product will keep for a year when stored at 4 C. Contans has to be incorporated into the upper soil layer by overhead irrigation, rain or by disc, cultivator or tiller.
MacLeod said those types of specialized storage and handling instructions are one of the things holding back the biopesticide industry.
“Unfortunately, most biopesticides generally are not as easy to use because they require special skills,” he said.
