The biological control company has opened its plant in El Ejido, and in addition to producing beneficial insects it will develop specialised training
On the 7th of May, a new bio-factory was opened in the heart of the European horticultural sector, in El Ejido, as a result of the merger of Bioline Agrosciences and Biocolor, with equal 50% participations. Bioline Iberia plans to reach an annual production of 100 billion beneficial organisms to effectively contribute to biological control in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. To do this, not only does the company devote a large part of its activity to R&D (as a group, they have over 10 patents in production and application systems), but they have also started up a groundbreaking training initiative. Under the name of Bioline Academic, the company will promote education and specialisation in the fight against pests using biological control. This will be done with the collaboration of universities and research centres. To begin with, the courses will be carried out at their installations and they will be private. Subsequently, they are not ruling out opening them up to the public. “We are going to see practical cases in our surroundings, but we will also look at experiences from other countries that could enrich our level of knowledge,” Mª José Pardo, general manager of Bioline Iberia explains.
The installations in El Ejido occupy 4,000 m² and they have insect production rooms that are equipped with high technology, as well as a team of 30 professionals and they expect this figure to reach 70 in the near future.
As a group, Bioline Agrosciences has 6 factories: in the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Spain and two in the United States. Amongst all of them they produce 30 types of beneficial insects, and each plant is specialised in the problems that affect its area of reference. In the case of Bioline Iberia, its solutions concentrate on producing insects to fight against white fly, trips, tuta absoluta and aphids and they also market bumblebees produced by other companies in the group.
“We are world leaders in Trichogramma, a parasite that has shown great efficiency in controlling Tuta, combining it with releases of Nesidiocoris and Necremnus that appear naturally,” Pardo indicates. The executive recalls the importance of good handling for maximum efficiency. “Aphids and spiders are becoming important pests, and it is essential to know how and when to release beneficial insects, because their success depends on factors such as temperature or humidity.” If the crop is ecological, the complexity increases and greater amounts are required to carry out a correct bio control. For this reason, the company has a team of technicians who help producers at all times, in addition to an R&D department specialising in viruses, where an attempt is made to detect the customers’ requirements and to get ahead of their problems.
The traceability from the raw materials, the exhaustive analyses and the immediate specialised delivery service to conserve the quality of their products, which are, in fact, living beings, are the keys to their daily work.
