Biosolutions in 2024 (Part Two) ft. Koppert’s Jeremy Webber

TECH ON DEMAND brought to you by GrowerTalks

In this conversational Tech On Demand podcast two-part episode, host Bill Calkins and his guest Jeremy Webber cover an extremely popular topic these days, biosolutions, in a way that showcases Jeremy’s experience as a grower and as a trusted biocontrols advisor who’s worked with greenhouses of all sizes (growing a wide range of crops from edibles to ornamentals to cannabis and more) to develop and implement biological crop protection programs. As crop team manager at Koppert US, Jeremy works with experienced teams in the field and in the lab and has a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience in modern integrated pest management (IPM) strategies that he shares over the course of two podcast episodes. Be sure to listen to Part One before hitting play on the second part because they go together.

Bill and Jeremy start episode one discussing the history of Koppert and its 50+-year history of innovation, as well as the company’s vision for 100% sustainable agriculture, before moving on to why biosolutions are on just about every greenhouse professional’s mind and why more are considering bios every year. Then Bill jumps into some rapid-fire questions based on discussions with growers and some most asked questions—like when to use bios versus conventional pesticides and how costs line up between the two. Throughout the first part, Jeremy considers why he (as a former grower) feels biological approaches are critical for our industry’s future, the importance of trust when partnering with a biosolutions supplier, some examples of success moving the industry forward and why bios are a sustainable strategy for any greenhouse operation.

In the second part, Jeremy and Bill dive into some more tactical topics like “gateway” pests to start approaching with biological controls, some favorite predators, unexpected lessons learned from the cannabis side of the industry and why “trials” is possibly not the best word to use when implementing biosolutions on a small scale. Since Jeremy has plenty of greenhouse production experience, Bill asks him for some absolute no-brainer ways that biocontrol strategies can be implemented into any greenhouse immediately—with just-about-guaranteed results.

Before closing, Jeremy and Bill chat a bit about what biosolutions in horticulture will look like in the future and why the market is in the right place at the right time. Jeremy also shares a couple quick tips for application and release best practices for biocontrols from his article in the 2024 GrowerTalks Biosolutions Guide (find a link to the digital version below.)

RESOURCES:

2024 GrowerTalks Biosolutions Guide: https://www.growertalks.com/pdf/BioSolutions_Guide_0624.pdf

Koppert U.S.: https://www.koppertus.com/

Koppert Consultants & Locations: https://www.koppertus.com/about-koppert/koppert-consultants-and-locations/

Koppert Crop Protection Products: https://www.koppertus.com/crop-protection/