3rd Annual Biocontrol Industry Meeting (ABIM) Lucerne, Switzerland October 20th-21st, 2008

The third ABIM-Lucerne Conference, the premier international meeting of the biocontrol industry, presented novel and safe biological crop protection products and discussed new trends in the global market.

(Lucerne, 21.10.2008) The 3rd Annual Biocontrol Industry Meeting (ABIM-Lucerne 2008) was held at the KKL Culture and Convention Center Lucerne, Switzerland on October 20th-21st 2008. Sponsored by the European Commission, the meeting was organised jointly by the International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association (IBMA) and the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL). ABIM-Lucerne provides an annual meeting place specifically adapted to the needs of the biocontrol industry

Plant protection with natural and biological systems allows for the sustainable production of healthy foods while refraining from the use of chemical pesticides. The biocontrol industry is based on many years of research and development.

During the two days of the conference, over 340 delegates representing more than 200 companies and organisations from all over the globe exchanged experience and obtained information on the latest products and developments on the world market. The vast majority of company representatives stated that they were highly satisfied with the outcome of the conference.

In the scientific programme, 28 presentations covered the latest developments in market development, regulatory affairs and novel products for plant protection. In addition to the presentation, information was at display in stands and posters.

ABIM-Lucerne is sponsored by EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel (DG-Agri), the EU Enterprise Commissioner (DG-Enterprise), the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) and the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) as well as by the city of Lucerne.

Monday, 20th of October 2008

From - To	Programme
13.00 - 13.15	Welcome Denise Munday (President IBMA): Objectives of IBMA and ABIM 2008 Lucius Tamm (FiBL): Welcome on behalf of the organising committee
13.15 - 14.15	Plenary session 1: (Chair: Rüdiger Hauschild) New developments in regulation and policy Pierre Nadin, DG ESTAT: The European Strategy to achieve a sustainable use of pesticides Daniel Traon, Van Dijk Management Consultants / Arcadia International EEIG: Biological plant protection survey for the European Commission Pierre Ricci, ENDURE coordinator: ENDURE: a network for diversifying crop protection and reducing reliance on chemical control Gerhard Gass, National Coordinator for Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology: Opportunities for SMEs in the EU - Research Frameworkprogramme Jean-Paul Schwitzguébel: COST networking: challenge and outlook for Swiss and European Food and Agriculture
Coffee break
14.45 - 16.00	Plenary session 2: (Chair: Owen Jones) Market developments for Biocontrol Karel Bolckmans: GlobalGAP: IPM as a route towards improved food savety Ari Gitz: Market situation in Brasil Ignacio Horche: Market situation in Spain Jean Parat: Market situation in France Milan Hluchy: Market situation in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary
16.00 - 17.00	Plenary session 3: (Chair: Richard GreatRex) Macrobials Graeme Gowling: Nematodes in outdoor crops Lerzan Erkilic: Biological control of citrus plantations in Turkey Melvyn Fidgett: Meeting customer needs with delivery systems Iris Kraaz: Beneficial insects against pests in stored products Silvia Dorn: How nutrition and rearing temperature influence the performance of the parasitoid Hyssopus pallidus, a candidate biocontrol agent of the codling moth Hubert Galy: Improvement of biological control against Cydia pomonella by sucrose
17.30 - 19.30	Meetings of professional groups of IBMA
19.30	Apéritif, offered by IBMA

Tuesday, 21st of October 2008

From - To	Programme
08.30 - 10.00	Plenary session 4: (Chair: Sergio Franceschini) Microbials (Part 1) Antoine Bonhomme: A new CpGV isolate overcoming Cydia pomonella resistance to granulovirus: improvement of the virus efficiency by pressure of selection on resistant hosts Philip Kessler: Field results of the NPV-products Helicovex and Spexit Edith Ladurner: Bacillus thuringiensis serovar kurstaki strain EG2348: a valuable tool for the control of a wide range of lepidopteran pests Ilaria Pertot: Trichoderma atroviridae SC1 for biocontrol of fungal diseases in plants Bachar Blal: Esquive, a biofungicide against pruning wounds of vine and root-rot pathogen of vegetables Stefan Kunz: The cost-benefit ratio of preharvest applications of BoniProtect (Aureobasidium pullulans) in pome fruit
Coffee break
10.30 - 12.00	Plenary session 5: (Chair: Denise Munday) Microbials (Part 2) Jose Manuel Lara: NOFLY: A new tool against whitefly in integrated pest management systems Swapan Kumar Ghosh: MYCO-JAL: A novel formulation of Beauveria bassiana for managing diamondback moth of cole crops in Indian scenario Samantha Besse: Preventive and curative efficacy of Ostrinil, a Beauveria bassiana spores based microgranule formulation, against the Castniid palm borer Paysandisia archon Thierry Pradier: New bio-insecticide Met 52 Granular (Metarhizium anisopliae) Botanicals, natural substances and Semiochemicals Adam Root: Eradicoat and Eradicoat T: Physically acting insecticides for the control of a wide range of insect and mite pests, their efficacy and use in integrated pest management programs. Goesta A. Hahr: Effects, Functions and Application methods of naturalgreen^®
13.30	Auditorium IBMA Annual General Assembly Meeting

Poster presented at ABIM

Possibilities of using virus product Madex for control of codling moth, Cydia pomonella L., in Bulgaria
Kristina KUTINKOVA, Vasiliy DZHUVINOV, Jörg SAMIETZ, Daniel ZINGG, Philip KESSLER