November 2022 will see the 10th anniversary of Biox-M approval for use in the United Kingdom as a potato sprout suppressant.
We would like to thank all those growers, packers, processors, end users and, most significantly, foggers who have supported us on the journey. The sprout control potential of essential oils had been recognised first by the Incas in Peru home of the potato, and more recently in the early 1960s, but it took painstaking research by Alberto Sardo and the team at Xeda International, firstly to identify the most effective of the essential oils for this particular use, and then to support the work to gain EU approval for spearmint oil (Biox-M) in 2009.
Juno (Plant Protection) received support from four UK packers (thank you) for initial commercial trials in Norfolk in 2010, when there was still much to learn about the move from a small-scale research environment to large-scale and widely varied commercial situations. UK approval was confirmed in November 2012, and the product gently launched into the market. Initial use tended to be in organic stores (where there were no alternative products) or in situations, where a crop in store had ‘got away’ and was at risk of rejection for excessive sprouting. A number of crops were ‘rescued’ in a high price season. The next big step forward was courtesy of Branston, who were looking forward to a world without CIPC, and decided to try Biox-M in some new on-site stores. New, high quality refrigerated stores created a great environment in which to demonstrate the potential of a new product.
Over the next few years, successful treatment of fresh crops and of new stores, for which contamination with very persistent CIPC was not an option, saw a steady increase in market penetration. Biox-M worked well, and some of the more outlandish concerns were quietly put to bed. Yes, attention to detail on application, and retention of a volatile product in the store after treatment were essential. This was not CIPC in another guise; a new approach was required, and the industry began to adapt.
The crucial moment arrived on 19th June 2019, when approval for CIPC was withdrawn across the EU. With the stroke of a pen, the rest of the industry suddenly needed to play catch-up in a hurry. Many processors had done little more than flirt with the product, secure in the knowledge that CIPC was cheap and effective. Trials with Biox-M were carried out in processing stores in the spring of 2020, but the ‘big’ learning began with the 2020 harvest. Growers with no experience of the product, using stores which varied enormously in quality, had a lot to learn and quickly. And they did so remarkably well, effectively forgetting all they previously knew and starting again. Biox-M was a new product for many, and unlike anything they had used previously. It is a credit to the industry that so much knowledge was shared so readily and widely, and a credit to the foggers that they adapted so swiftly.
Biox-M:
- Is a naturally occurring product, in widespread use in the food industry,
- Is approved for use on organic potato crops,
- Has no harvest interval or MRL,
- Does not leave persistent residues in the fabric of stores and boxes used for storage,
- And is therefore suitable for use in stores, which may subsequently be used for the storage of other crops or seed potatoes,
- Is effective at higher storage temperatures, reducing the risk of acrylamide development when crop is processed,
- Sequesters carbon during growth, removing 1t of CO2 for every 1,000t of potatoes treated,
- And should be a component of the sustainability plan for every farm and every customer; effectively carbon neutral.
Biox-M is the only 100% natural and sustainable sprout control for potatoes.