BPIA Spring 2008 Membership Meeting Highlights

BPIA Chairman Bill Foster welcomed a capacity crowd to our Spring meeting held March 27-28 just outside Washington DC in Arlington VA.  The first order of business was to announce selection of BPIA's new Executive Director - Bill Stoneman and to extend our warm thanks and appreciation to Mike Beevers, outgoing Executive Director.  Themes for the meeting were: Biopesticide Registration, Sustainable IPM and Organic Agriculture, and Health & Environmental Studies.

Biopesticide Registration Issues - US & Canada

Janet Andersen, Director and Michael McDavitt, Deputy Director of EPA's Biopesticide Division started the session with an update on registration timelines, staffing, and fees/waivers under the "fee for service" legislation (PRIA 2).  We also heard about grants and projects supporting the adoption of biopesticides, NAFTA activities, and the Division's implementation of Registration Review for active ingredients registered more than 15 years ago.  Next, Pierre Beauchamp, Director General of PMRA's Value and Sustainability Assessment Directorate provided a comprehensive overview of the "what, when, and why" as it relates to demonstrating the efficacy and value of biopesticides in support of registration in Canada.  Tobias Langle (from Ag-Canada's Pest Management Center) then discussed results and implications of the recent survey/assessment of biopesticide companies in Canada.  Jerry Baron, IR-4 Executive Director concluded the session with an update on IR-4's grants, tech transfer and related activities in support of biopesticides. 

Sustainable IPM and Organic Agriculture: Realities & Opportunities

Galen Dively, U. MD., kicked off this session with a real world look at his role in taking biopesticides (including products for organic agriculture) into the field for performance evaluation and further development.  Steve Hartmeier, CEO Suttera then took us on a global tour that brought to light the varied roles and opportunities for using pheromones  in IPM programs around the world.  Pam Marrone, CEO Marrone Organic Innovations presented an overview of various certification programs which provided a context for her update on BPIA's ongoing evaluation of the potential for initiating an independent certification program for biopesticide products.  Pam circulated a questionnaire aimed at gathering further input from the membership on their support for such a program.  Bernadine Prince,  Fresh Farm Markets concluded the session with a video and commentary on the successes her group has had in making locally grown products more accessible to retail consumers through an expanding network of farmer's markets. 

 

Conducting Health & Environmental Studies: Helpful Hints from the Experts.

Day two featured a 3-member panel of industry experts (Bruce Gingras, ITTRI, Dave Palmer, Wildlife International, and Mike Beevers, Cal Ag research) that shared their experiences, lessons learned, and advice in protocol design and conduct of safety studies with unique products, especially microorganisms.  The discussion was enriched by the participation of several EPA scientists responsible for the evaluation and interpretation of these studies submitted in support of product registration. 

As always, there were abundant networking opportunities available to the 40+ participants throughout 2-day session.  Get all the details and review the presentations at http://www.biopesticideindustryalliance.org/membersonly/membersonly.htm
You will need the user name and pass code to access the pages. If you have forgotten these you can e-mail Marti Betz at martibetz@comcast.net