Minrav Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MNRV) subsidiary AgroGreen Ltd. has obtained approval from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the company's "Chancellor" biological pesticide (bionematicide) against nematode worms, which infect plant roots.
Nematodes are a pest that infects a wide range of crops and ornamental plants. AgroGreen said that the EPA approval was a foundation for the approval of other bionematicide compounds. The Chancellor bionematicide is based on living organisms - bacteria and fungi - that infect nematodes.
The EPA approval opened the US market to AgroGreen. Ernst & Young estimates that the US nematode pesticide market is worth more than $270 million, and that the global market is worth $750 million.
Current nematode pesticides are based on methyl bromide gas to disinfect the soil. The problem with this chemical is that it damages the atmosphere and contributes to global warming.
AgroGreen CEO Orna Pollack said, "Our compounds are more effective than non degradable chemicals. The bacteria remain the same size and attack only nematodes."
Two years ago, AgroGreen signed a cooperation agreement with Makhteshim Agan Industries Ltd. (TASE: MAIN), which markets AgroGreen's products worldwide, except in the US, and conducts field tests of the biopesticides. AgroGreen says that it has cooperation agreements with other international pesticide producers, but it declines to disclose their identities.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 1, 2008
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