Flying Doctors® with Prestop 4B nominated for Bernard Blum Award at ABIM

The competition for this award was organized by the International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association (IBMA), in honor of its late founder Bernard Blum. It took place at the Annual Biocontrol Industry Meeting (ABIM), the premier global biocontrol industry event in Basel, Switzerland (19th-21st October). Biobest and Lallemand feel honoured with the nomination of Flying Doctors^® with Prestop 4B.

With a double anniversary to celebrate, the 10th edition of ABIM and the 20th anniversary of IBMA itself, an open award contest for new biocontrol solutions was set up. All 230 members of the association as well as third parties were invited to contend with their most innovative solutions. The selection criteria were clear: high impact in management of pests or diseases, friendly to human health and the environment. Emphasis was put on solutions with proven impact and performance in the field, not on new technologies that are still in an experimental phase. A jury composed of Owen Jones, former IBMA President; Ilaria Pertot, Senior researcher and Head of the research program on Plant-environment interactions S. Michele all’Adige, Italy; Joop Van Lenteren, Vice-President of International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC), Professor of Entomology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands nominated 3 entries.

Biobest and Lallemand Plant Care are pleased that Flying Doctors^® with Prestop 4B was on the shortlist. The shortlist further included PMV-01 a plant vaccine from DCM & De Ceuster (Belgium) to protect tomato plants against Pepino mosaic virus and final award winner Spear, a novel biopesticide from Vestaron (US).

Sarah Van Beneden, Product Manager at Biobest, says: ”We’re pleased with this recognition for our approach to sustainable strawberry and raspberry production. Flying Doctors^® bumblebees provide optimal pollination and distribute Prestop 4B to the flowers to achieve optimum natural protection against grey mold. First introduced in Belgium, we expect the technology to be commercially available in 2016 in the Netherlands, France and Scandinavia.”

Jean-Marc Sanchez, Area Manager at Lallemand Plant care, says: ”Next to our flagship product Prestop, the Prestop 4B is based on the same highly effective active ingredient, a beneficial fungus. The formulation of Prestop 4B makes it suitable for distribution by bumblebees, a unique delivery system to control flower borne diseases such as grey mold. We are pleased to collaborate with Biobest to advance this sustainable technology in berries and are jointly exploring possible further uses.”

For more information please contact Sarah Van Beneden (sarah.van.beneden@biobest.be) ou Jean-Marc Sanchez (jmsanchez@lallemand.com).