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The company says the honey bee pest control system, which is an alternative to its bumble bee system, is tested in the fields of Georgia.
Bee Vectoring Technologies (BVT) (TSXV:BEE) is currently testing a honey bee pest control system in the fields of Georgia, the company said at the Cantech Investment Conference in Toronto last Tuesday (January 29).
In a presentation to potential investors, Ashish Malik, CEO of Bee, said that the company is testing and installing the system at a 100-acre farm for sunflowers and blueberries.
The company, which is engaged in sustainable and natural commercial farming solutions, said the honey bee system is an alternative to its bumble bee system.
Bee uses crop pollinators to deliver its pest control solution, Vectorite. The company says the process uses less chemicals and less machinery, translating to a smaller carbon footprint, while promising higher yields for growers.
Malik highlighted that the Earth’s population is expanding while the resources that are available to feed the growing population are declining. Further, the land available for farming has been declining, leaving farmers looking for ways to ramp up space and activities for farming.
Bee says its solutions are environmentally friendly and are tipped to “increase the productivity” for farmers.
“This industry right now is about a US$3-billion industry and is growing at a 14-percent annual compound growth rate,” Malik said.
Malik highlighted that the company’s solutions produce better crops for farmers, with better quality as they deliver biological products for farming using managed pollinators like bumble bees and honey bees.
“This is big business,” he said. “Eighty percent of the crops that are growing worldwide … require some form of pollination. On a global basis, 80 million honey bee hives are used and about a third of what we consume in our diets is attributed to those 80 million bee hives.”
The company initially held trials using honey bees in October 2016 and filed a patent for its delivery system using honey bees in March 2017. In May 2018, Bee noted in a corporate update that there is a massive opportunity for honey bee use.
“In the US, the value of crops that benefit from pollination by honey bees is nearly $20 billion, giving BVT a significant opportunity to leverage the already existing market structure for commercial honey bee pollination for these crops,” Bee said.
Malik said at the Cantech event that the company’s technology can be scaled by leveraging partnerships with third parties.
Crucially, Bee is also said to be working on market expansions by looking at additional regions and crops. Malik said his company is currently managing a portfolio of 50 partnerships that are in various stages of discussions, including the use of Bee’s technologies on a global scale.
The company is expecting Environmental Protection Agency registration later in 2019, and is hoping to have a global presence by 2022 to 2023.
“BVT is in a really exciting stage of evolution,” Malik said.
Shares of Bee closed the trading session on Monday (February 4) at C$0.17. The stock has a “buy” ranking on TradingView with 14 verticals in favor, seven in neutral and seven against.
With files from Georgia Williams.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Bala Yogesh, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
