C|Net has an interesting article on companies using organic methods to repel or eliminate undesired bugs for argricultural purposes. Great idea!
Organic biopesticides comprise only a small fraction of the overall $30 billion pesticide market, but they are growing rapidly–22 percent a year thanks to technological, regulatory and market forces. By 2010, biopesticides could account for more than $1 billion in revenues, according to some estimates. Other companies in the field include Valent Biosciences, Suterra, Certis and Nutra Park.
The business has come a long way from previous years when biopesticide scientists were viewed as modern-day snake oil salesmen. A number of start-ups formed in the 1990s were based on sound science from university labs but cratered in the dot-com meltdown.
AgraQuest, which has $10 million in annual sales today, was one of many companies that, back then, canceled plans to go public. But now new investors such as Texas Pacific Group Ventures are aiming to rapidly grow the company’s revenue by expanding relationships with farmers and retail outlets like Wal-Mart.
To maximize agricultural production, pesticides are not going away. But instead of using harmful chemicals, leveraging nature against nature is probably the best and sustainable way to go! I mean, how much longer will it take for those commerical chemicals to reach a level where all food chains are contaminated with them that we won’t be able to eat anything without dying from one disease or another caused by the chemicals?