During the past three years Biogrow have been conducting field trials in apple and pear orchards across South Africa to prove the effectiveness of Exosex CM an Auto-Confusion technique against traditional mating disruption and in conjunction with reduced chemical regimes.

Martin Brown, Managing Director at Exosect comments, "It is evident in the three years of field trials that took place in South Africa, that Exosex CM used in conjunction with an integrated pest management approach is able to achieve a robust level of control. The result of these trials also suggests that the pest may be building up a resistance to the chemicals commonly used to treat crops, as such it is even more imperative that growers are given additional alternatives to pest control to reduce the need to use increased levels of pesticides."

Exosect and Biogrow will launch Exosex CM jointly in July of this year, providing technical advisors with the opportunity to further develop their understanding of the Auto-Confusion technique and to become involved in practical demonstrations.

Wayne Gabb, Managing Director at Biogrow comments, "We have been very impressed with the results of the Exosex CM trials and are confident that this product will follow the developmental success it has seen in the UK and the US." Biogrow will be responsible for the rollout and for maintaining regular contact with growers to monitor all aspects of the system from ease of use to actual performance.

Exosex CM has already been registered for commercial use in the UK and in the US, where it has been granted organic status with IFOAM affiliated organic certification bodies the Soil Association, Organic Farmers & Growers Ltd and OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute).