Development of Australian commercial producers of invertebrate biological control agents from 1971 to 2014

Abstract

The Australian industry producing invertebrate biological control agents (BCAs) commercially was described for the first time through interviews with company owners, citrus pest management researchers and citrus growers. This industry started with citrus pest management in 1971. Over 40 years it expanded from one company and one commercial BCA to peak at nine companies operating from 2002 to 2010. A period of consolidation resulted in five companies producing 36 commercial BCAs in 2014. Annual gross sales were \AU$10 million compared to [AU$400 million spent on insecticides. Barriers to industry growth included high costs of developing new commercial BCAs partly due to regulatory costs associated with importation of new BCAs into Australia, and low adoption of commercial BCAs due to limited access to information and training. The industry responded to these barriers by collaborating with stakeholders to develop new commercial BCAs, and developing an accreditation scheme to build technical capacity and encourage adoption.

Plant Associated Rhizobacteria for Biocontrol and Plant Growth Enhancement

“…An International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC) 3 has gathered together practitioners and 3 http://www.iobc-global.org/index.html researchers from widely diverse fields to promote the identification of any limitations to broad-application of biocontrol products and to provide recommendations for mitigating these limitations (Barratt et al, 2018). Furthermore, at the grower level, low adoption of commercial BCAs occurs, as crop producers who have not been engaged in biocontrol or lack of basic knowledge of the area may see only slow progress in general acceptance, or no initial impact on crop disease within their production systems (Begum et al, 2017). Thus, farmers may have little or no financial benefit compared with pesticides which tend to be more reliable and predictable.…”

“…A large set of PGPR have been studied at the laboratory scale and some of which have been commercialized ( Glick, 2012 ; O’Brien, 2017 ; Rosier et al, 2018 ). In the last decade, there has been continued growth in the commercialization of BCAs ( Fravel, 2005 ; Bashan et al, 2014 ; Mishra et al, 2015 ; Begum et al, 2017 ; O’Brien, 2017 ). A number of research projects are now focused on developing novel biocontrol products for Europe 1 and the United States.…”

“…At the moment, each individual country has its own regulatory system and the nature of these varies considerably among countries ( Bashan et al, 2014 ). For instance, it was indicated that barriers to growth of the BCA industry in Australia included high costs of developing new commercial BCAs ( Begum et al, 2017 ). One of the leading factors is the high regulatory costs in terms of importation of new BCAs into Australia ( Begum et al, 2017 ).…”

“…For instance, it was indicated that barriers to growth of the BCA industry in Australia included high costs of developing new commercial BCAs ( Begum et al, 2017 ). One of the leading factors is the high regulatory costs in terms of importation of new BCAs into Australia ( Begum et al, 2017 ). Registration of BCAs requires close cooperation between governmental agencies and academic plus industrial sectors, to support the much needed evaluation and marketing of these new products.…”

“…Furthermore, at the grower level, low adoption of commercial BCAs occurs, as crop producers who have not been engaged in biocontrol or lack of basic knowledge of the area may see only slow progress in general acceptance, or no initial impact on crop disease within their production systems ( Begum et al, 2017 ). Thus, farmers may have little or no financial benefit compared with pesticides which tend to be more reliable and predictable.…”