February’s newsletter includes:
A call to revise legislation on biocontrol agents from Dr. Rüdiger Hauschild, director at Germany’s GAB Consulting. BIOCOMES reports: “Legislation on product registration in the EU is an issue that all producers of biocontrol agents consider as an important hurdle for the introduction of new biological control products on the market. ‘And they have a good point,’ Dr. Rüdiger Hauschild says. ‘The data requirements in the current legislation go back to 2001. We’ve gained a lot of knowledge since then, so there are many good reasons to revise legislation by now.’ Read more here.
From 17-19 January BIOCOMES organised a workshop for young scientists on the development of biological control products in Germany, hosted by project partner e-nema. Sixteen young scientists were selected for the workshop, with BIOCOMES trainers discussing issues such as markets and product registration, research methods in ecology, detection and mode-of-action, screening strategies and efficacy testing , lab to greenhouse transfer and application, and industrial mass production and quality assessment of products.
There is also news of BIOCOMES’s ongoing dissemination activities, with a report about the visit of Mariann Wikström, from Agro Plantarum, to the Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences (SLU) to talk about the BIOCOMES project during their theme day: biological control and the food production of the future. Read more here.
There is news, too, of a fun and informative video animation addressing, ‘What is biocontrol?’ As BIOCOMES notes: “Biological control of pests and diseases can be a very effective, sustainable and environmentally friendly strategy for crop and forest protection as part of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices. But what is biological control exactly and how are biological control products developed and produced?” This is precisely what the video seeks to explain. Read more here.
Finally, the newsletter has updates on its work on biological control agents for control of whitefly ( read more here) and fusarium ( read more here).
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