May 11, 2021

Bee Vectoring Technologies announces first-time revenues in Pacific Northwest

Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. announced May 11 that it has secured its first revenue commitments in the US Pacific Northwest from four blueberry growers in Oregon and Washington. BVT also has secured two R&D demonstration trials in the region.

“This rapid market penetration continues the progress that BVT is seeing in 2021. This is our first year in the Pacific Northwest since the early work done last year was cut short because of escalating restrictions with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ian Collinson, sales manager at Bee Vectoring Technologies, said in a news release. “These new commitments align with our 2021 commercialization objectives and demonstrate that our focus on sales and marketing is paying off. We have accelerated penetration in the U.S. Southeast, Midwest and the Pacific Northwest berry markets with revenues secured. This is in addition to kick-starting California and New Jersey with initial trials. We anticipate this strong commercial momentum to continue to build in the US in coming seasons.”

The market opportunity for BVT in the Pacific Northwest is significant, with 25,000 acres of blueberries and caneberries in Oregon and Washington.⁽¹⁾ There is high market demand for Pacific Northwest berries both domestically and overseas, with a large export market to Asia in fresh-packed and frozen berries.

The blueberry bloom period commenced in mid-April and these growers are already using BVT’s proprietary Vectorite with CR-7 (Clonostachys rosea CR-7) (CR-7) biological fungicide and natural precision agriculture system for commercially-managed honeybees on about 80 acres of their approximately 5,000 overall acres of blueberry acres under production. The growers have both conventional and organic acres utilizing the BVT system. Based on common practice and the actions of previous growers trialing the system, the Company expects these growers will add BVT on more acreage across their operations in the coming two to three seasons based on positive results.

BVT has grower commitments from all three major growing regions in the Pacific Northwest: Northern Washington, Eastern Washington, and North Western Oregon. “We are in the second pilot stage of BVT’s sales adoption cycle in the Pacific Northwest, and our second season in the region,” said Ryan Dragoo, Pacific Northwest Territory Manager at Bee Vectoring Technologies. “Now that we have a foothold in the three major growing regions in the Pacific Northwest, we will  leverage grower trial data and endorsements to expand our reach into each region annually.”

Dragoo has strong grower community connections in the Pacific Northwest and extensive agriculture industry experience in Mexico, Canada, California, Arizona and Washington. Prior to joining BVT late last year, he was the General Manager of a 300-acre, 3-location farm in Central Washington.

“I am pleased with the strong positive response we’ve received from growers since starting with BVT. Growers have commented that with the BVT system, they see long-term benefits to their crops and that the system can address “missed” acreage,” added Mr. Dragoo. “Since many continue to use spray pesticides as part of an integrated pest management program, they say the BVT system can help cover areas that a traditional sprayer might miss due to drift, wind, rain, or flower position.”

“Our investment in a new salesperson for the Pacific Northwest is paying off,” continued  Mr. Collinson. “We have feet on the ground in the region, and are hearing excellent feedback from growers. The market is eager for our technology: growers see BVT’s sustainable system as the perfect solution for combating disease and increasing yield. We look forward to building even greater momentum in the Pacific Northwest, forging stronger relationships with existing growers and establishing even more grower relationships.”

BVT, an agriculture technology company, is a market disruptor with a significant global market opportunity in the $240 billion crop protection and fertilizer market. BVT has pioneered a natural precision agriculture system that replaces chemical pesticides and wasteful plant protection product spray applications by delivering biological pesticide alternatives to crops using commercially grown bees.

BVT’s award-winning technology, precision vectoring, is completely harmless to bees and allows minute amounts of naturally-derived pesticides (called biologicals) to be delivered directly to blooms, providing improved crop protection and yield results than traditional chemical pesticides – and improving the health of the soil, the microbiome and the environment. Currently, BVT has over 65 granted patents, over 35 patents pending in all major agricultural countries worldwide, and has US EPA registration of its Vectorite with CR-7 (EPA Registration No. 90641-2) for sale as a registered biological fungicide for use on the labeled crops.

Additional information can be viewed at the company’s website.