A balanced eco-system is usually self-correcting and has almost no need of synthetic inputs to control pathogens and pests. This is due to many factors but the end result is a balance where pathogens and pests are present but are not allowed to overwhelm their environment. We are seeing increasing evidence of healthy crops growing in conditions where Biotechnica products have been introduced with the crop being relatively unaffected by disease or stress.

Our current R + D programme is looking at both soil treatment and application to foliage to maximise the population of beneficial microorganisms around the whole plant effectively forming a barrier to potential pathogens. Promising results are showing that this approach can lead to significant reductions in the use of chemical controls. This is of interest not only because of its appeal to the consumer but in the longer term it could overcome problems such as the growing resistance of certain pathogens to conventional chemical controls.