About four years ago a Bizworld column dealt with a small Canadian company developing biological disease/pest control of fruit crops through the use of bees.
Bee Vectoring International Inc. has made significant progress since the trials of its product back then.
The biological control is spread by bees pollinating flowers. As the bees exit the hives they pick up a powder which is transmitted to plants and controls pests and disease.
The bee vectoring technology increases yields, reduces use of pesticides and fungicides, uses no water, develops healthier plants and extends shelf life of fruit.
The technology includes products for plant protection of blueberries, strawberries, sunflowers, apples, tomatoes and more recently canola.
A bee vector product for soybeans is in development.
The process has shown effectiveness with growth in acres covered. Georgia blueberry growers who signed up in 2022 all signed up for renewals this year.
Growth in the Pacific Northwest was 428 per cent last year, with 46 per cent growth in the Northeast and Midwestern United States.
Oddly, the first trials for the product in Canada are this year.
The vegetable fruit growing state of California started buying the product this year.
The products appear to have improved over the 11 years since the company was formed from no benefits in the first few years.
Average disease reduction in blueberries from the bees over the years is 43 per cent with 100 per cent in the last two years.
Yields increase up to 30 per cent in various crops.
Two of the corporation’s founders are former executives with the plant chemical giant Syngenta.
Bee Vectoring has involved 20 years of research and development. The company went public in 2015 and took in the first dollar of revenue in 2020.
The goal is to achieve geographical expansion into new markets with new applications.
A new partnership with BioSafe Technologies this year will see bee vectoring products added to Biosafe’s line for distribution in the United States. BioSafe has annual sales of $15 million.
First crop trials in Mexico are this year.
Submissions have been made to regulatory agencies in Peru, European Union, Morocco, and Turkey.
Two new methods of product applications are foliar and into the soil. These should help build the market in the canola sector.
With canola the target markets expand to $7 billion annually.
To get where it is Bee Vectoring has accumulated $33 million in deficits with $3.3 million in the last nine months.
Covering the deficits and continuing operations was achieved by selling shares with 150 million shares outstanding and a seven cent price.
Since first going public the shares have traded from 32 cents to a high of 59 cents in 2016.
Still in the commercialization stage Bee Vector is a highly risky invention.
But patient money could do well if planned expansion succeeds in the next five years.
CAUTION: Remember when investing, consult your adviser and do your homework before buying any security. Bizworld does not recommend investments.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
