The World BioProtection Forum (WBF) hosted the 2nd Annual World BioProtection Summit and Awards 2022 this week at the NEC, Birmingham (UK), to address the pressing need to develop alternatives to chemical crop protection in sustainable food production.
Established to celebrate achievements in biocontrol and the biological agriculture industry, the World BioProtection Awards this week acknowledged some of our sector’s finest innovations at a stylish gala dinner at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham, UK.
An eminent group of more than 20 expert judges had previously identified a shortlist of 38 finalists from 32 different organisations. Competition throughout the judging process was intense, and made the job of choosing the final winners a very difficult task across all ten categories. The WBF would like to congratulate all finalists, and thank everyone who nominated innovations, projects, and individuals for these distinguished awards.
This year’s winners were:
1. Best Bioinsecticide Product – Cearitis for PIRA, an autonomous device that diffuses a natural attractant to trap fruit flies outside of olive orchards.
2. Best Biofungicide Product – Biotalys for Evoca, and Oro Agri for PREV-AM®.
3. Best Biochemical Product – STK Bio-Ag Technologies for REGEV, the first ‘hybrid’ foliar fungi-cide.
4. Best Biostimulant Product – FMC Corporation for Accudo, a versatile microbial biostimulant, and Sri Bio for IndiRoots, a unique granular formulation of multi-microbial plant stimulants.
5. Best Biofertiliser Product – Tradecorp, for Phós’UP, a new biofertiliser coming to the market this year.
6. Best Innovative Research Project of the Year – International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) for Aflasafe, a solution to the problem of aflatoxin contamination in agricultural produce.
7. Industry Collaboration of the Year – UPL Ltd and Zespri Kiwifruit who worked together on a new product called Aureo Gold.
8. Biotech Start-up Business of The Year – Botanical Solutions Inc (BSI).
9. Best Young Entrepreneur Award – Dr Fatma Kaplan, Founder and CEO of Pheronym.
10. Outstanding Achievement Award – Dr Willem Ravensberg, Corporate Sr Regulatory and Governmental Affairs Manager, Koppert Biological Systems.
These Award recognise outstanding achievements in biocontrol and biological agriculture. With increasing pressures to make agriculture more sustainable, against a backdrop of climate change and a growing world population, the need for new innovations that reduce our impact on the planet while maintaining or increasing crop yields, has never been so urgent.
Dr Minshad Ansari, Chairman of the WBF, said “These awards rightly celebrate and acknowledge innovation in new products for biological agriculture. They also recognise that starting and running a business, product development, raising investment, collaborating with partners, regulations, and commercialisation… all these things, they involve abilities and expertise necessary for commercial, as well as scientific, success. All these skills – and the Award winners that demonstrate them – are the key to our sector’s future.”
Dr Ansari also expressed thanks to the World BioProtection Awards industry sponsors, Bionema, Oro Agri, Syngenta and Sri Bio, for supporting this year’s awards programme.
