In September at Duxford Imperial War Museum, Pangaea Biosciences hosted their first international innovation meeting for research scientists and distributors from the UK, Czech Republic, Greece, Lithuania, Poland and Portugal. The objectives of the meeting were to share knowledge of market use of Pangaea products, understand resistance issues across Europe, share product knowledge and performance with an opportunity for questions and answers. Invited speakers included Dr Graham Moores, the inventor of temporal synergism and Professor Pavel Wegorek and Dr. Joanna Zamojska, from the Institute of Plant protection, National Research Institute, Poznan, Poland who have conducted bioassay and field trials with Pangaea’s technologies for some years now. Each country representative presented their key technical learnings and commercial successes.

Dr Graham Moores kicked off proceedings with an excellent introduction to his early research work and findings more than 20 years ago, followed by CEO Nick Gooch outlining Pangaea’s journey since he founded it in 2012. Since then, it has expanded its horizons across Europe, Africa, the Far East, and Australia. Nick explains that the most important priority for the company was to overcome insect resistance. ″Resistance to insecticides worldwide is an escalating problem, as growers spray more frequently at multiples of registered label rates, leading to environmental harm, increasing costs for farmers and even greater resistance build up. We have developed a product, Pangaea Booster™ which inhibits or neutralizes the pest’s defensive enzyme before the pesticide is released. This patented and optimized formulation leaves the pest in a hypersensitive state so that the concentration of the pesticide will kill even the most resistant types. It does this by deactivating the metabolic pathway (Cytochrome P450) in insects, which causes breakdown of the insecticide. In countries such as Poland and Czech, beetles show very high levels of resistance to most insecticide groups, and it is in these countries that Pangaea Booster™ has already found great success.″

Other topical subjects discussed at the meeting was the enormity of resistance in Asia where Pangaea Booster™ is also selling and the impact of climate change or global warming on pest resistance. Higher temperatures allow the pest to overwinter moving from crop to host plants, so reproductive cycles are longer allowing for greater resistance build up. It will allow more generations each year and earlier flights for pests like grain aphids. It also decouples the pest and its natural enemies, reducing natural predation, increasing populations, and increasing resistance. Drought conditions will affect the way plant protection products are taken up. All these situations can only enhance the build-up of insect resistance, making the adoption of Pangaea Booster™ more important than ever.

Other areas of interest in the meeting were the product Tardis™ which is a food safe organic complex of carbohydrates and sugars offering a time-controlled delivery system to be used in combination with Pangaea Booster™ and the resistant insecticide.

Nick Gooch explains that the company not only has these key products but a very fruitful pipeline of products in the offing.

Delegates’ Feedback

Joanna Zamojska from IOR PIB. Poland says″ A highly successful conference on many levels, not only scientific. An excellent opportunity for discussion and exchange between science and practice.

Pawel Wegorek also from IOR PIB, Poland considered the meeting to be A great technical meeting for individuals and companies involved in developing Pangaea technology. I was very pleasantly surprised by the Conference in Duxford — an excellent occasion to exchange experiences and engage in substantive, collegial discussions. The agenda was outstanding, featuring some fantastic attractions.

Stavros Rigalos, a distributor from Greece remarked that: The Pangaea Innovation Network meeting at Duxford was an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences with peers from across Europe. I gained a much deeper understanding of the technical background behind Pangaea’s technologies, and it was a great opportunity to meet the team, share perspectives, and feel part of a forward-looking network that will continue to grow and collaborate in the future.

Ste Massam from Fargro in the UK: Thank you for hosting such an informative and well-organised training and networking day. We found the event very beneficial and appreciated the opportunity to learn more about how the product is being used across Europe. It was particularly valuable to hear how our European counterparts are using the product to control pests more efficiently. The insights into the challenges posed by flea beetle across the region, and the strategies growers are employing – particularly the incorporation of Pangaea Booster™ into their programmes – were especially useful.

We also appreciated the chance to share some of the work we’ve been doing here in the UK with the product against a range of pests which is continuing to show excellent results. Thanks again for the opportunity to connect and share knowledge. We look forward to future collaboration.

Grzegorz Otfinowski from Milagro, Poland ″a great technical meeting for individuals and companies, developing Pangaea technology. Excellent organisation, high quality content and perfect logistics.″

Maciej Milej, Milagro in Poland ″An excellent opportunity to meet directly with people from various countries working with the development of Pangaea’s company portfolio.″

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