MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 03/02/17 -- Bee Vectoring Technologies (the "Company" or "BVT") (TSX VENTURE: BEE) today announced that it has filed a patent application with the US patent office for a unique and novel system that allows the delivery of plant protection products to crops using commercial honeybees.
There are an estimated 80 million commercial honeybee hives in use worldwide. The newly developed BVT system is compatible with most commercial honeybee hives and is designed to deliver a wide variety of plant protection products, such as BVT's proprietary BVT-CR7 biological control agent, that inhibit or eliminate common diseases and pests in crops that are pollinated by honeybees. These include almonds, apples, melons, and sunflowers. This system is a highly effective alternative to spraying application methods that use a lot of water, and has the potential to dramatically reduce the quantity of chemicals that are sprayed on the crops.
In initial trials in sunflowers in Ontario in 2016, the BVT honeybee system uniformly delivered the BVT-CR7 biological control agent to the crop and produced a 31% increase in yield for the grower. Additional work in 2016 treating sunflowers in the US with BVT-CR7 using bumblebees showed effective suppression of sclerotinia, a devastating and costly disease in sunflowers, and one for which there is currently no viable protective solution. More trials of the honeybee system are scheduled for 2017 on sunflowers and other crops.
"This new honeybee delivery system, together with BVT's proprietary crop protection products, represents a significant additional market opportunity for the company. Honeybees are already used to pollinate many large-acre outdoor crops. In the US, the value of crops that benefit from pollination by honeybees is close to $20 billion, and in California alone there are almost a million acres of almond trees that rely on approximately one million honeybee hives every year for pollination." stated Ashish Malik, CEO of BVT. "We will be continuing to test our new system in field conditions this year and making further refinements to the design based on testing data if and where required."
The patent application for the honeybee delivery system represents the start of a 5th patent family for the company. BVT is pursuing an aggressive IP strategy with over 60 patent applications worldwide. It has received approval on 11 of these patents in 7 countries worldwide covering 4 patent families. The remaining patents are pending.
The honeybee program is part of the Company's documented growth strategy whereby it will selectively expand its market opportunities while it continues down the path towards securing EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) regulatory approval of its BVT-CR7 beneficial microbe and drives towards commercialization of its proprietary system designed to work with bumblebees.
About Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc.
BVT has developed and owns patent-pending bee vectoring technology that is designed to harmlessly utilize bumblebees and honeybees as natural delivery mechanisms for a variety of powdered mixtures comprised of organic compounds that inhibit or eliminate common crop diseases, while at the same time stimulating and enhancing the same crops. This unique and proprietary process enables a targeted delivery of crop controls using the simple process of bee pollination to replace traditional crop spraying, resulting in better yields, superior quality and less impact on the environment without the use of water or disruptions to labour.
Additional information can be viewed at the Company's website www.beevt.com
On Behalf of Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc.,
Ashish Malik, President & CEO
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that BVT expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to BVT'S future plans and technologies, including the timing of such plans and technologies. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "indicate" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although BVT believes that the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include continued availability of capital, financing and required resources (such as human resources, equipment and/or other capital resources), and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of BVT'S management on the date the statements are made. BVT undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change, except as required by law.
Contacts:
Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc.
Ashish Malik
President & CEO
marketing@beevt.com
Investor Relations:
Babak Pedram
416-644-5081
bpedram@virtusadvisory.com
For media enquiries or interviews, please contact:
Josh Stanbury
josh@sjspr.co.uk
416-628-7441
