While insects can have destructive effects on crops, anti-pests can similarly cause huge damage to the environment. To cater to the damage caused by these abundantly used pesticides comes in the new CropCoat designed to hide and coat the plants from the insects instead of killing them.
The new CropCoat is developed by Crop Enhancement, a firm based in California. The new mix consists of a blend of non-toxic ingredients, which includes a hidden botanical extract, that company allegedly wants to keep a secret.
The way to use it is to mix it with water, spray it onto crops, and require nothing new instead of sprayed using conventional agricultural tools. It takes a span of 12-24 hours for it to come to effect, as when the water evaporates, it leaves a biodegradable film that covers almost every part of the plant (primarily coating stems and leaves).
Crop Enhancement, the firm behind the creation of CropCoat, claims that the new coating makes the crops “unavailable” to pest insects. Now, how does the new coating material does this is not known?
Crop Enhancement CTO Damian Hajduk said, “We know that insects don’t recognize coated plant surfaces as a source of food or reproductive sites, but the reasons for this lack of recognition probably vary from species to species.”
As the company claims, the new coating protects crops from pests for up to six weeks, after which a re-application is suggested. However, that also depends on the weather conditions. The company told about the CropCoat that even after applying it to the plants or crops, they’d still be able to carry out healthy photosynthesis, necessary for good growth.
After conducting tests on the CropCoat, it was determined safe and non-toxic for plants. It is also not toxic to insects, which safeguards many beneficial insect species such as honeybees.
As per the information known, the new crop-safeguarding product would be available at the same price bracket as the other widely available pesticides. CropCoat will be available in the U.S starting sometime next year.
An official said, “Field trials have occurred in South America, Central America, Indonesia, Africa, and Europe. Over the last three years, we have done over 100 field studies, including pilots on almond trees. Crop Enhancement found their product reduced the presence of navel orange worms (a common enemy of almonds) by up to 50 percent compared to those left untreated, and prevented economic loss upwards of $500 per acre.”
The future will determine as to how much this new crop saving product is effective. However, it sounds pretty promising for the information known so far.