A Lighter Touch (ALT) is being credited with connecting the dots between the crop protection and crop production industries and government to partner in a project to test the regulatory pathway for novel biopesticides in New Zealand.
The newly-approved ALT project will see a new-to-New Zealand bioinsecticide for the control of Diamondback moth, a priority pest in brassica crops, taken through the regulatory pathway with the goal of achieving registration.
Investing in the project are A Lighter Touch product group member Vegetables New Zealand, crop protection partner Key Industries, and the A Lighter Touch programme, which is co-funded by the Ministry of Primary Industries, as a Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures project.
Frank Visser, Managing Director of Key Industries, says the project is a great illustration of the role ALT has played in bringing together a number of industry players for the good of the wider sector.
“We are constantly fighting against silo-mentality in our industry, and seeing a variety of significant organisations pooling their skills and resources is refreshing to say the least.”
The project plays a significant role in an A Lighter Touch work stream focusing on increasing the availability and use of biological control agents (BCAs) for pest management, as part of agroecological crop protection.
The product, manufactured by Swiss company Andermatt and to be registered and distributed here by Key Industries, will be used as a case study to provide guidance for industry in taking a product through the New Zealand regulatory system. It will focus on three primary components, being:
- New Organisms;
- Hazardous Substances; and
- Registration under the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines regulations.
The project also provides the added benefit of developing and registering a new mode of action bioinsecticide for a priority pest.
Diamondback moth is a priority pest in brassica crops.
In using a case study approach, A Lighter Touch aims to provide guidance to industry on how to navigate the complexity of the regulatory pathway in a faster and more cost effective manner.
Stuart Davis, of Vegetables New Zealand, agrees the project is unusual in the level of co-investment that the industry body is proposing to make alongside the New Zealand agent.
“This speaks to the importance industry sees in working towards a future regulatory framework that allows for a simpler pathway for biological control options and providing for future control of this important pest.
“A Lighter Touch has really been the glue that has brought all the parties together, working through issues as they have arisen to reach a point where the programme’s governance board has given its approval for the project to proceed.”
The three to four year project has a series of stop/go points within it to ensure efficient and accurate spend of investment by all parties.
