Bayer says it recently signed a development and distribution agreement with M2i Group, a French company that specializes in pheromone-based solutions for crop protection. The new distribution agreement will target Latin America, the U.S. and Asia-Pacific to distribute pheromone gels.
Monte Sorensen, product manager with Bayer CropScience, says M2i’s technology fits in line with trends in Europe toward more biological usage due to regulatory pressure. He says he sees the Press technology and its future use in the U.S. as another tool in a grower’s toolbox and more integrated solutions with the entire Bayer portfolio of products.
“We want to be able to provide a solution to the grower,” he says. “We think that best fit is by being able to talk to them about a solution from pheromone and mating disruption, all the way to your conventional chemistry to cover a big portion of the life cycle of pests.”
Bayer says this new distribution builds on a successful collaboration with M2i as the exclusive distributor of select M2i products in Europe and some African countries. M2i products in have targeted lepidoptera and some sucking pests in crops that include stone and pome fruits, tomatoes and grapes.
Bayer says it has also integrated M2i’s pheromone products into a system of digitally enabled solutions such as pest monitoring tools, which help advise growers on pest pressures and application timelines as well as other products tailored to grower needs.
M2i’s Press technology delivers pheromones through a thick, long-lasting device. Growers apply the gel using a pressurized device directly to the plant.
“The bottle is reusable, and the direct dispensation keeps growers from having to use plastic in an applicator or hanger,” says Phillippe Guerret, CEO of M2i. “This unique innovation is a way to save time and to keep plastic use to a minimum and to reduce waste.”
Sorensen says it will be a couple of years before U.S. growers will see any new pheromone solutions released as part of this partnership.
“We’re really trying to be mindful and thinking through how we can really provide an effective solution for the growers that both works and is right,” he says.
He also sees more grower and consumer interest in biological products, especially as more next-generation biological products come online. But, he says, at the end of the day, growers really just want cost-effective products that work.
“I think there’s opportunities to meet the grower where they are well,” he says. “Hitting on what they want to do — produce, sell and export their product. As we see more regulatory pressure, I see the market probably moving more in that direction [of biologicals], but I still think that there’s a big useful market for the synthetics and conventionals in there as well.”
