UF Biotech Affiliated Company to Produce Biological Nematicide
Pasteuria Bioscience, located at UF’s Biotechnology Development Institute in Alachua is beginning to gear up to for commercial production of the bacterium Pasteuria penetrans, a known nematode control agent. Two venture capital companies have recently invested $750,000 into the company, which has developed a method to mass rear the organism and make it affordable on a farm scale.
With the imminent loss of materials such as methyl bromide and fenamiphos (Nemacur®), the market for new nematicides is large, as these pests annually cause an estimated $100 billion in damage. The investors believe the market may well be worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year. The company plans to begin field testing of the product this spring, beginning with micro-plot trials on crops such as tomato, peanut, and cucumber. (The High Springs Herald, 1/1/04).
