1st Breakout Session - Orange Team: M. Benson, Leader
List opportunities for commercialization of biocontrol.
- Capture interest of big corporations in a soil- or water-based environment for biocontrol such as corn root worm or purple nut sedge.
- Teaching facilitators in a school for IPM
- Information not cheapened by making it available for free although information could not be proprietary.
- Government subsidies for cost of delivering information.
- Contract extension advisors or commercial agents (dealers) would pay for information.
- Networking between farmers, researchers, and extension personnel extremely important in commercialization process.
- Change language in teaching about biocontrol to facilitate original concepts of environmental-based approached to IPM through biocontrol.
- Remove ‘eradication’ from language to promote idea of IPM.
- Think preventative measures instead of knockdown measures later Identify pest problems where chemicals are being de-registered or are lacking (e.g., nematicides and herbicides)
Identify five of these opportunities that are novel and have potential for development in the next ten years.
- Develop biocontrol to reduce chemical intervention. Examples could be corn root worms or plant parasitic nematodes as target pests.
- Teaching commercial facilitators; ‘schools’ for biocontrol.
- Consumers should ‘pay’ for biocontrol information or products.
Using the opportunities as a starting point, identify the key legal issues as ramifications that will play a role, one way or the other, in the effective commercialization of biocontrol. List key obstacles and identify the most important. Who or what could resolve obstacles? (For example, consider protection of intellectual property through patents or copyrights; authorities, liabilities, regulatory issues.)
- Registration – pesticide vs plant growth regulator use for biocontrol product.
- Who has authority to identify the path through which a biocontrol agent can be commercially released?
- Industry versus public sector relationship for biocontrol products.
- "Teacher" liability in recommending or promoting biocontrol to user group
Identify the key financial or business issues that will play a role, one way or the other, in the effective commercialization of biocontrol. List key obstacles and identify the three most important. Who or what could resolve obstacles? (For example, consider start-up costs, profit margin, client base, economics of scale, competition, markets.)
- Source of capital or matching loans (Educate the capitalist who would then invest in biocontrol ventures.
- Small business initiative for research (SBIR) program funded by government.
- Partnering of large companies with capital, technology or personnel resources with small companies developing promising biologicals.
- Large companies as an umbrella to cover costs of small company development and commercialization with profits split among partners.
- Farmers and ‘antagonists’ as stake holders in acceptance of biocontrol.
- Who should pay: Members of coop or end-user, consumers, pesticide impact assessment program.
Identify the key scientific and technological issues that will play a role one way or the other, in the effective commercialization of biocontrol. List key obstacles and identify the three most important. Who or what could resolve obstacles? (For example, consider available technology; employee, client and environmental safety; geographical scope of product or service.)
- Efficacy of BC agent over a varied geographic area where target crop grown.
- Shelf-life of product adequate to ensure marketing over several months of the growing season.
- Consistency between small-scale production batches and scale-up lots of bc agent.
- The effect of release or introduction of biocontrol agent on the ecology of naturally occurring organisms.
- Thorough testing of biocontrol agent to ensure no short of long-term health effects to applicators or workers in crop or other end user group.
- Should be developed around a ‘decision support system.’
- Is there an adequate synthetic diet available for parasite or predator?
- Will production costs be in line with relative effectiveness of biocontrol and alternative measures?
Identify the key education and communication issues that will play a role one way or the other, in the effective commercialization of biocontrol. List key obstacles and identify the most important. Who or what could resolve obstacles? (For example, consider user education/market changes; user, extension, and regulation education; public relations and marketing strategies.)
- Renew basic IPM concepts in curriculum at all level of education.
- Education is not disconnected from other issues related to development and implementation of bicontrol agents and should parallel development.
- On-farm demonstrations.
- Enlist ‘key’ growers to adopt biocontrol practice so ‘neighbors’ will eventually buy into biocontrol approach.
- Educate urban population and policy makers to value of BC adoption for IPM.
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