AgBiome organic-approved fungicide Howler now approved in California
AgBiome’s Howler fungicide was recently approved by the state regulators in California and New York, according to a news release from the company.
Howler is listed with the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) as a fungicide. In the U.S., it is used on a wide variety of vegetable crops — including leafy greens — as well as small fruit, such as caneberries, strawberries and grapes.
According to AgBiome’s website, Howler can be used to control botrytis, colletotrichum, phytophthora, pythium and rhizoctonia, among other soilborne and foliar diseases.
Howler received EPA approval in the second half of 2017, and has gained individual registration in 49 of 50 U.S. states states (Hawaii pending) in the three years following this initial approval, according to the release. Building on the continued growth and success of Howler, these additional registrations allow even more growers access to the biological fungicide, providing effective, long-lasting activity on a broad spectrum of soilborne and foliar diseases across the continental U.S.
“California growers continue to demand new solutions for protecting their high-value crops from diseases,” AgBiome Innovations COO Toni Bucci said in the news release. “We’ve seen strong retail adoption with Howler in other states, and we are thrilled that California growers now have the opportunity to experience Howler.”
Howler has multiple modes of action and shows off its flexibility in minimal pre-harvest and re-entry intervals, according to the release. The product was developed using AgBiome’s proprietary GENESIS discovery platform, which efficiently captures and screens the company’s diverse, unique microbial collection for agriculturally relevant applications. GENESIS unlocks the potential of microbes in a systematic and targeted manner to identify the best candidates for advancement in AgBiome’s biological crop protection product pipeline.
“In a few short years, the AgBiome team has taken Howler from the lab to being available to all growers in the continental U.S.,” said Jason Kuhlemeier, vice president of marketing at AgBiome.
