For over thirty years, North Wales-based manufacturer Russell IPM has been developing novel strategies for pest management by exploiting insects’ natural behaviour, reducing the reliance on chemical insecticides. This approach is behind the company's growth strategy based on continued spending on Research and Development. It won the company its first Queen's Award for Innovation in 2012 for developing a successful control system against Tuta absoluta, an invasive moth pest that destroys tomato crops. The award-winning treatment plan combined the use of fungal pathogens with pheromone attraction and trapping to achieve complete control in a number of documented cases. A similar approach fed into the integrated pest management system designed against Western flower thrips in strawberry, for which Russell IPM was awarded its second Queen's Award for Innovation in 2018.
Recently Russell IPM has expanded its offering of bio-fertilisers and bio pesticides, with novel solutions to increase farm productivity while improving soil health and the quality of fruits and vegetables. An addition to the product portfolio are a number of smart technologies that will be field-tested this year, for the remote sensing of pest activities, climatic factors and soil humidity, helping farmers to make the right decision at the right time. Among other benefits, smart technologies can predict and give early warning of potential disasters such as migrating pests.
Managing Director Dr Al-Zaidi said of the accolade: “Besides being an attestation to Russell IPM’s successes, the Queen's Award for Innovation 2018 further motivates our teams to double their efforts to deliver more and better solutions to help improving and protecting the quality of the food chain from farm to fork.”
For more information:
Russell IPM
Unit 45 First Avenue
Deeside Industrial Park
Deeside, Flintshire, CH5 2NU
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1244 281 333
Fax: +44 1244 281 878
info@russellipm.com
www.russellipm.com