Mississauga, Ontario and Sacramento, California--(Newsfile Corp. - May 18, 2021) - Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. (CSE: BEE) (OTCQB: BEVVF) (CVE: BEE) (the "Company" or "BVT") announced today that Michael Emrick has joined the Company as Territory Manager for California. Emrick brings extensive agricultural experience and important crop and pest control certifications, which position him well to lead BVT's commercialization and sales growth in California.
"California is the single largest agriculture market in the US and BVT has made significant progress in accessing this important market by obtaining regulatory approval and conducting initial trials with strawberry, caneberry, blueberry and almond growers over the last five months," said Ashish Malik, CEO of BVT. "The addition of Michael Emrick to our team, as a dedicated sales professional, is a significant step forward in pursuing the enormous opportunity that California represents that will further accelerate our revenue growth in this market."
Emrick has 20 years of agriculture industry experience and is a licensed agriculture pest control advisor (PCA) with the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) and a certified crop advisor (CCA) with the American Society of Agronomy (ASA). He started his career in Arizona, where his family has deep roots in farming, and has been working with California growers for the last five years. Based in Fresno in the heart of California's Central Valley, including the almond-growing region and a short drive away from major strawberry and caneberry growers, Emrick is well-situated to serve BVT's target markets in the state.
"In addition to his customer-oriented approach and passion for innovation, Michael is a licensed PCA, which is a critical requirement for California, and has worked on all aspects of growing, from irrigation to pest control, fertilizers and more," said Ian Collinson, Sales Manager at BVT. "His extensive experience working with growers throughout the US and doing field research and demonstration trials will be powerful in growing BVT's presence in this market."
"It's getting harder and harder for growers to get ahead, especially here in California where we have a number of environmental issues and increasing regulations," said Mr. Emrick. "BVT, with its natural precision agriculture system, offers a sustainable solution that will help them thrive in the changing market conditions."
California is BVT's largest, most crop-diverse opportunity in the US, with 1.3 million(1) acres of key crops for the Company to target. This includes strawberries, blueberries, caneberries and almonds. The largest state in terms of cash farm receipts, California represents over 1/3 of vegetable and 2/3 of fruit and nut production in the US.(2) It also exports over $20 billion worth of crops a year (40% of total production),(3) much of which goes to countries with limits on pesticide residue, which makes products like CR-7 highly attractive.
"I see a clear fit and big opportunities for BVT here in California," continued Mr. Emrick. "It will help growers with sustainable farming practices, and improve their crop operations through better disease management and improved yields. I'm impressed with the amount BVT invested in R&D and their extensive patent portfolio. The management team has a depth of agriculture knowledge, experience and passion for the space that's heartening, and I'm excited to be joining a team with such innovative technology."
As BVT continues its entry into worldwide berry and almond markets, new hires like Emrick will propel growth. "Our California strategy includes initial market penetration, customer retention and expansion through exceptional customer service, and leveraging the initial experiences to gain new customers," continued Mr. Malik. "Michael will introduce BVT technology throughout the state and pursue contracts with new growers for the next season, focusing on prominent early adopters who are influencers in their communities."
(1) Source: USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service
(2)(3) Source: California Department of Food and Agriculture
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.
###
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/84203
