Oct 17, 2024

Beneficials dispenser released by Biobest

Biobest has introduced a beneficials dispenser called Entomatic, which creates an air flow that gently and evenly distributes beneficial insects and mites throughout the greenhouse.

Developed in collaboration with Hortiworld, Biobest publicized the delivery of the first Entomatic dispenser to Australia.

Like any soft fruit grower, Berry Sweet, Bullsbrook, Australia, was facing high labor costs.

Purchasing an Entomatic is proving a ‘no-brainer’, as the automated dispenser saves time, reduces costs and guarantees beneficial insects are delivered in an accurate and homogenous flow, according to the release.

“This innovative dispenser perfectly answers the needs of many soft fruit growers,” Stephanus Malherbe from Biological Services, Biobest’s subsidiary in Australia, said in the release. “Anthony Yewers, owner of the innovative Berry Sweet business, was looking for ways to automate the release of beneficial insects in his greenhouses. After seeing the Entomatic in action, he bought one.”

Hortiworld’s Anton Berns and Wanneroo Agricultural Machinery’s Josh Rogers assembled the system on site, adjusting and setting it to suit the grower’s specific requirements.

A 140 acre operation, spread over three locations in Western Australia, Berry Sweet supplies strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries to Australia’s major supermarkets.

“A customer for 22 years, Anthony was the first grower to successfully implement Integrated Pest Management to control Californian thrips in his crops,” Malherbe said in the release. “The recent dramatic rise in chilli thrips has created another challenge for Australian growers, necessitating further intensive use of natural predators.”

“Manual dispensing of beneficials is already very labor and time intensive – time is money,” Berns said in the release. “In addition, employees all dispense the mites slightly differently, so the results are not always uniform. It can be difficult to assess whether the task has been performed well.”

Thanks to Entomatic, Berry Sweet can optimize its biological control strategy and its effectiveness. While giving Berns peace of mind, the automatic dispenser is reducing labor costs and ensuring the beneficial insects are distributed evenly throughout the crop, according to the release.

Following its success, other growers have now found their way to Biological Services.

“The Entomatic is an extremely interesting proposition – especially for larger growers,” Malherbe said in the release. “The larger the area to be treated using biological control, the faster the ROI for the dispenser. We’re also receiving requests from growers keen to buy a machine as a collective.”

A significant bonus of the Entomatic is its flexibility and adaptability: a simple, modular system, it can be configured to suit practically all types of greenhouses and cultivation systems. With 2-16 dispensing points, it can automatically dispense predatory mites such as Cucumeris, Californicus, Montdorensis and Persimilis, as well as Orius, in up to 16 rows simultaneously. Designed and engineered with the grower in mind, the Entomatic can be used and installed by anyone with a certain level of technical experience, according to the release.

Based in Westerlo, Belgium, Biobest Group NV provides growers a wide range of biological control and pollination products.