Mississauga, Ontario and Sacramento, California--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2021) - Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. (CSE: BEE) (OTCQB: BEVVF) (CVE: BEE) (the "Company" or "BVT") today announced that it has secured its first revenue commitments in the US Pacific Northwest from four blueberry growers in Oregon and Washington. BVT also has secured two R&D demonstration trials in the region.
"This rapid market penetration continues the progress that BVT is seeing in 2021. This is our first year in the Pacific Northwest since the early work done last year was cut short because of escalating restrictions with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Ian Collinson, Sales Manager at Bee Vectoring Technologies. "These new commitments align with our 2021 commercialization objectives and demonstrate that our focus on sales and marketing is paying off. We have accelerated penetration in the US Southeast, Midwest and the Pacific Northwest berry markets with revenues secured. This is in addition to kick-starting California and New Jersey with initial trials. We anticipate this strong commercial momentum to continue to build in the US in coming seasons."
The market opportunity for BVT in the Pacific Northwest is significant, with 25,000 acres of blueberries and caneberries in Oregon and Washington.(1) There is high market demand for Pacific Northwest berries both domestically and overseas, with a large export market to Asia in fresh-packed and frozen berries.
The blueberry bloom period commenced in mid-April and these growers are already using BVT's proprietary Vectorite with CR-7 (Clonostachys rosea CR-7) (CR-7) biological fungicide and natural precision agriculture system for commercially-managed honeybees on about 80 acres of their approximately 5,000 overall acres of blueberry acres under production. The growers have both conventional and organic acres utilizing the BVT system. Based on common practice and the actions of previous growers trialing the system, the Company expects these growers will add BVT on more acreage across their operations in the coming two to three seasons based on positive results.
BVT VectorHive honeybee dispensers in the US Pacific Northwest at the start of the blueberry bloom period in mid April 2021
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Commercial hives with BVT VectorHive Honeybee Dispensers on blueberry field in PNW region - April 2021
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BVT VectorHive honeybee dispensers in the US Pacific Northwest at the start of the blueberry bloom period in mid April 2021
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Above: BVT set up of its VectorHive honeybee dispensers in the US Pacific Northwest at the start of the blueberry bloom period in mid April.
BVT has grower commitments from all three major growing regions in the Pacific Northwest: Northern Washington, Eastern Washington, and North Western Oregon. "We are in the second pilot stage of BVT's sales adoption cycle in the Pacific Northwest, and our second season in the region," said Ryan Dragoo, Pacific Northwest Territory Manager at Bee Vectoring Technologies. "Now that we have a foothold in the three major growing regions in the Pacific Northwest, we will leverage grower trial data and endorsements to expand our reach into each region annually."
Dragoo has strong grower community connections in the Pacific Northwest and extensive agriculture industry experience in Mexico, Canada, California, Arizona and Washington. Prior to joining BVT late last year, he was the General Manager of a 300-acre, 3-location farm in Central Washington.
"I am pleased with the strong positive response we've received from growers since starting with BVT. Growers have commented that with the BVT system, they see long-term benefits to their crops and that the system can address "missed" acreage," added Mr. Dragoo. "Since many continue to use spray pesticides as part of an integrated pest management program, they say the BVT system can help cover areas that a traditional sprayer might miss due to drift, wind, rain, or flower position."
BVT's sales adoption cycle consists of four market stages that span three to four growing seasons. To learn more about the sales adoption cycle, read BVT's blog "From initial trial to commercial expansion: how BVT sells to growers."
"Our investment in a new salesperson for the Pacific Northwest is paying off," continued Mr. Collinson. "We have feet on the ground in the region, and are hearing excellent feedback from growers. The market is eager for our technology: growers see BVT's sustainable system as the perfect solution for combating disease and increasing yield. We look forward to building even greater momentum in the Pacific Northwest, forging stronger relationships with existing growers and establishing even more grower relationships."
(1) Source: USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service
About Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc.
BVT, an agriculture technology company, is a market disruptor with a significant global market opportunity in the $240 billion crop protection and fertilizer market. BVT has pioneered a natural precision agriculture system that replaces chemical pesticides and wasteful plant protection product spray applications by delivering biological pesticide alternatives to crops using commercially grown bees. BVT's award-winning technology, precision vectoring, is completely harmless to bees and allows minute amounts of naturally-derived pesticides (called biologicals) to be delivered directly to blooms, providing improved crop protection and yield results than traditional chemical pesticides - and improving the health of the soil, the microbiome and the environment. Currently, BVT has over 65 granted patents, over 35 patents pending in all major agricultural countries worldwide, and has US EPA registration of its Vectorite™ with CR-7 (EPA Registration No. 90641-2) for sale as a registered biological fungicide for use on the labeled crops.
Additional information can be viewed at the Company's website www.beevt.com. To receive regular news updates from the Company, subscribe at www.beevt.com/newsletter.
Company Contact:
Ashish Malik, President & CEO
info@beevt.com
Investor Contact:
Babak Pedram, Investor Relations
Virtus Advisory Group
Tel: 416-995-8651
bpedram@virtusadvisory.com
The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. The words "may", "would", "could", "should", "potential", "will", "seek", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions as they relate to the Company, "annual revenue potential", are intended to identify forward-looking information. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect the Company's current views and intentions with respect to future events, and current information available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including: planted acres, selling price of competitive chemical pesticides and the US to Canadian dollar exchange rate. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking information to vary from those described herein should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize. These factors include changes in law, competition, litigation, the ability to implement business strategies and pursue business opportunities, state of the capital markets, the availability of funds and resources to pursue operations, new technologies, the ability to protect intellectual property rights, the ability to obtain patent protection for products, third-party intellectual property infringement claims, regulatory changes affecting products, failing research and development activities, the ability to reach and sustain profitability, dependence on business and technical experts, the ability to effectively manage business operations and growth, issuance of debt, dilution of existing securities, volatility of publicly traded securities, potential conflicts of interest, unlikelihood of dividend payments, the potential costs stemming from defending third-party intellectual property infringement claims, the ability to secure relationships with manufacturers and purchasers, as well as general economic, market and business conditions, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's Filing Statement dated August 14,2020, filed with the CSE and securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com. Should any factor affect the Company in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, the Company does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law. All figures are in Canadian dollars.
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