APHANZ members want the current review of the approval path for new products to result in a trusted process and right touch regulation that balances all the risks and ensures farmers and growers have access to a toolkit of options.
As an example, to help New Zealand’s growers reduce reliance on conventional pesticides and herbicides while improving crop yield, it’s important they have access to the latest innovations in biological alternatives.
Frank Visser, Managing Director/Owner of Key Industries, is part of a novel regulatory case study to register a new-to-New Zealand viral bioinsecticide to control diamondback moth, a priority pest in brassica crops.
The case study is funded by A Lighter Touch, Key Industries and Vegetables New Zealand. A Lighter Touch is an industry and government partnership programme which aims to support New Zealand plant-based food producers to move from agrichemical reliance to an agroecological approach to crop protection – sustainable farming that works with nature.
Biologicals or bioinsecticides are a key enabler, living organisms or naturally occurring substances used to control pest populations, including natural predators, parasites, pathogens, or competitors.
The project is taking the new viral bioinsecticide through the regulatory approval process as a case study to provide guidance to the sector on the pathway for viral bioinsecticides and to give brassica growers another crop protection option.
Frank Visser says Key Industries is already supplying New Zealand orchardists with a similar biological insecticide from Swiss manufacturer Andermatt, to control codling moth in pip fruit. With BioGro certification it is used widely by organic producers.
“The new viral insecticide for diamondback moth we are working on now, has a similar active ingredient, and results in no residue, there is no withholding period so it can be applied right up to harvest and can be held in a cool store, so very stable.”
(Above and below) Plutella larva infected with PlxyGV)
The goal of the project is to register the product’s active ingredient, the virus (PlxyGV), as a New Organism with the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) for use against diamondback moth. One of the first steps is to establish whether or not the active ingredient is already present in New Zealand diamondback moth caterpillars.
This has involved complex DNA sequencing of larvae and trials. Over the last three summers, about 500 diamondback moth larvae have been collected in multiple regions. DNA extracted from the frozen caterpillars will now be analysed to see if it includes the DNA of the PlxyGV virus.
As there is no PlxyGV virus known in New Zealand, a synthetic positive control has had to be made. The DNA of PlxyGV has been sequenced overseas and from that information, part of the viral DNA has been synthesised in the laboratory for use as the positive control.
So far, samples from a few dozen of the frozen caterpillars have been run to test the process. None of the samples tested so far have shown the PlxyGV virus to be present. The results for the remaining tests will determine next steps for the project.
If the virus is found in the remaining samples, that will be part of the evidence needed to support a case for an application for the PlxyGV virus to be declared ‘not new’ to New Zealand.
However, if sample testing does not find any evidence of the virus, then the next step will be to make an application for the virus to be imported as a New Organism under containment for host range testing against diamondback moth and other possible hosts in New Zealand.
Frank says that for Key Industries, being a partner in the case study, which is supported by funding, is critical to enabling them to bring this innovative product to market.
“We’re very pleased to be involved. Without being part of this the sheer cost and time involved would make it unviable for us take this new product through the approval process.”
Frank, who has been working in the agricultural innovation industry in New Zealand since 1981, says New Zealand’s regulatory system has gone through a lot of change.
“New Zealand used to be one of the first cabs off the rank for trialling new products and over time has moved from taking a precautionary approach to become increasingly risk averse. Now the hurdles and cost of registration are a real barrier.
“We absolutely need to manage risk, but you can never eliminate risk. So, there is real value in lowering that threshold and bringing more balance to consider the benefits, especially where we can replace conventional chemicals and even antibiotics with alternatives.”
Frank, who recently attended the Annual Biocontrol Industry Meeting (ABIM) in Basel, says there is significant potential for New Zealand with innovative new biologicals.
“I saw around one hundred companies profiling new biological control products that we could bring to New Zealand and that would change the face of agriculture here. However, the cost is so high that it’s restrictive, and this is putting New Zealand behind the rest of the world.
“Our regulatory system needs to change to be more accommodating of new innovations. It’s critical to meeting the needs of our global high-value markets where there is an increasing focus on replacing conventional chemicals with biologicals. As a small exporting nation we can’t afford to compromise.”
