It seems everywhere you look these days, corporatisation and the power of the big–end of town is drowning out the voice of the little guy.
Some would argue it is good for consumers because corporatisation brings about economies of scale and global access to cheaper raw materials. However, the downside is that small companies which are historically the breeding ground for innovation, struggle for market share and the profits needed to bring innovations to market.
So it is nice to see companies like Sydney based Organic Crop Protectants Pty Ltd (OCP) still around after 24 years of doing business in an environment dominated by corporates.
Low risk pesticides
Over the past couple of decades OCP have been developing, and APVMA registering, a range of low risk pesticides that meet the needs of both IPDM focused conventional and organic growers.
OCP now has a stable of over thirteen APVMA registered adjuvants, fungicide and insecticide labels including products like Eco-oil® HIPPO miticide/insecticide formulated with a special beneficial insect attractant, and Eco-carb®, the only food grade active fungicide on the Australian market.
OCP are also very active in the development of biological products for the management of pests and disease.
They have been working closely with Tasmanian Plant Pathologist Dr Dean Metcalf to isolate and develop a range of beneficial fungi called Trichoderma that are natural predators of common plant diseases.
Some of the products developed to date include Antagonizer® and Colonizer® for Botrytis and brown rot, Phytoguard® for Phytophthora in soils, and Gauntlet® for Sclerotinia.
More recently Dean has isolated Trichoderma from strawberry plants to control rots in the fruit and a fungi that protects macadamia husk from a disease called Husk spot (Pseudocercospora macadamiae).
Insect virus and biological fungicides
OCP have also teamed up with a small innovative biological company out of Switzerland called Andermatt Biocontrol to research and develop insect virus products and biological fungicides based on Bacillus bacteria.
Australian growers who suffer from the veracious attack of Heliothis grubs, Codling moth and Oriental fruit moth can now breathe a sigh of relief with Helicovex® and Grandex® (pending registered for 2015 season) virus insecticides now being available in Australia through OCP.
Andermatt’s part ownership of Bacillus bacteria experts in Germany, Abitep GmbH is paying great dividends with the launch of RhizoVital® FBz42 Bacillus amyloliquefacians and a range of other Bacillus based bio-fungicides they are working on.
RhizoVital® FBZ42 has been very well accepted in Australia as a soil drench to assist with better seed germination rates, seedling survival and growth rates.
RhizoVital FBZ42 super-charges the rhizosphere (area around the roots) and works symbiotically with the root system to enhance nutrient availability. And like fluoride guards against tooth decay, RhizoVital FBZ42 guards plant roots against soil pathogens.
Innovating in IPDM
OCP continues to innovate in the area of IPDM (Integrated Pest and Disease Management) through its alliance with Purdue University start-up, Spensa Tech.
Spensa Tech have developed smart trap technology (Z-TRAP®) that allows growers to monitor for pests in real-time using their iPad, iPhone or desktop computer.
The technology is supported by very powerful software called MyTraps® and OpenScout®.
MyTraps and OpenScout allow growers to log catch-data from traps automatically, or manually if they do not have Z-Traps in the field.
OpenScout tracks the movement of crop scouts and allows them to log information about pests and disease observations and severity ratings which are geo-tagged and time-stamped.
The whole system streamlines IPDM monitoring, providing very powerful information about pest and disease pressure over time across production areas.
Insect pheromones
And finally to complete the package of innovative crop protection, OCP are working with ISCA Technologies who are innovators in the area of insect pheromones.
ISCA have a range of insect lures for monitoring and trapping of pests, but also very effective insect mating disruption products based on SPLAT® (Specialised Pheromone & Lure Application Technology). SPLAT® is an inert toothpaste like material in which insect food attractants, sex pheromones and the like are added.
In the case of SPLAT® Bloom Pollination Enhancer, they have added a pheromone attractant for worker bees that improves bee attraction, activity and pollination outcomes in crops.
SPLAT can also be used for other purposes through the addition of low risk insecticides.
SPLAT is applied to the crop in small dollops to posts, pots, branches or leaves.
The SPLAT dollop sits in the crop for weeks/months to either confuse the mating of insects, or attracts them and when they attempt to ingest its contents—or they make contact with it—they are killed.
This method of insect control reduces pesticide use by 10 to 100 fold in terms of amount of active per hectare and reduces pesticide waste to almost zero with no risk of off target drift.
Support local innovators
It would seem that a 100% locally owned company like OCP is doing everything in its power to be an innovator.
Innovators need your support to continue innovating in order to improve how we do things and to be more successful in business.
For information call your nearest OCP representative
Freecall 1800 634 204
email
visit www.ocp.com.au
See this article in Tree Fruit August 2016
