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Jennifer Lewis, IBMA Executive Director was invited by Western Growers to speak on a regulatory panel about the European regulatory situation, alongside US Environmental Protection Agency, Terry Stone, Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency and regulatory specialists from Latin America.
It is notable that the bottlenecks due to lack of evaluation resources (money and skills) for biocontrol is not unique to Europe and is beginning to be seen in North America as the volume of biologicals submissions increases.
The Summit is unique in having in equal measure farmers, industry, regulators and scientists.
Clear messages from the Summit were:
- Farmers need to see it to believe it
- Focus on the value to the grower
- Innovation needs to keep pace with the emerging pests
- 1400 biological companies globally in the biologicals space -many will merge or be sold
- US EPA has issued an Executive Order to prioritize biopesticides and to collaborate with state regulators on biopesticides