Mississauga, ON Canada and Sacramento, CA USA – TheNewswire - April 17, 2024 – Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. (the “Company” or “BVT”) (CSE:BEE) (OTC:BEVVF) (CVE:BEE) is pleased to announce strong spray trial results for the Company’s proprietary Clonostachys rosea CR-7 (CR-7) biofungicide.

Data from the Michigan State University trial shows that when used on a blueberry crop, BVT’s CR-7 reduced early disease infection (shoot strikes) and Monilinia (mummy berry) fungal disease by over 90% compared to the untreated plot, and was equally effective as the grower standard (the conventional use of chemical treatments) when used as a spray application.

“Last year we announced our commercial collaboration and first sales order in the foliar application market,” said Ashish Malik, CEO of BVT. “These strong results support our work with partner BioSafe Systems and are in line with our plan to expand our addressable market. We are broadening the use of our proprietary biofungicide to a seed treatment, a spray application,  a soil drench application and more – all in addition to the initial bee vectoring application.”

Dr. Tim Miles, extension specialist and leading expert on blueberry diseases at Michigan State University, led the 2023 trial on Berkeley blueberries, a variety highly susceptible to mummy berry. A technical grade CR-7 spray was applied to bushes from green tip to petal fall and compared to another plot sprayed with the grower standard.

“We can confidently conclude from the Michigan State University trial that BVT’s CR-7 controls fungal disease extremely well as a spray application,” said Dr. Mason Newark, Field Technical Manager at BVT. “This trial demonstrates that CR-7 could be integrated into a pre-bloom or post-bloom spray program to extend disease control throughout the season.”

Mummy berry, caused by the fungus Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi, is a major blueberry pathogen that causes yield and quality loss. Primary infections, called shoot strikes, can result in bush dieback and can be a source for secondary infections later in the season. Fruit “mummification” is not evident in early stages of development, but as the fruit develops, infected berries turn pink or light brown and eventually shrivel up. These shriveled berries then provide inoculum for subsequent seasons, resulting in a perennial pest pressure if not managed proactively.  

There are plans to repeat the trial in coming years. “Additional trials will provide useful insights as BVT develops expanded uses of CR-7 beyond bee vectoring and into more conventional use patterns to expand control into a full season biological program,” continued Dr. Newark.

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 55 granted patents, many more 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.

BVT Company Contact:

Ashish Malik, President & CEO, BVT

info@beevt.com

BVT Investor Contacts:

Babak Pedram

Virtus Advisory Group
Tel: 416-646-6779
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.