“Mating disruption is a vitally important tool for the management of pest species of economic importance. Growth of this technology has been constrained by the high cost of pheromone active ingredients and difficulty in optimizing the specific formulations of pheromones required for success. BioPhero’s breakthrough and novel idea allowing bio-synthesis of pheromone actives will be a paradigm shift in mating disruption technology, allowing affordable crop protection in a wider range of crop, including row crops. With our formulation technology we are excited to be part of this journey.”
Dr. Shams Usmani
Head of Pheromone Solutions, Russell IPM
Expected Impacts
By achieving its overall objectives, PHERA will have developed new insect pheromones for agricultural use that will be more affordable and accessible than existing products. It will make a significant environmental contribution by reducing, even eliminating, the usage of toxic chemical insecticides and diminishing the environmental footprint of pest control. It will also make a relevant economic impact, by creating a new business sector and making the pheromone-based approach affordable to farmers.
Additionally, PHERA will make contributions to specific BBI JU Key Performance Indicators by:
- Establishing a new cross-sectoral interconnection in the bio-based economy, between the biotechnological manufacturing and agriculture sectors.
- Creating three new bio-based value chains; converting glycerine into pheromones using yeast fermentation, formulating these pheromones into mating disruption products and selling the products to growers to protect their plants from insects.
- Developing and demonstrating new plant protection products that meet market requirements, all of which will use biologically produced pheromones.