Montana State University Ag Technology to Enter Global Biopesticide Market

There is a vial of little blue pellets in Barry Jacobsen’s lab. Its contents, a bacterium taken from a few healthy leaves in a northeast Montana sugar beet field overrun with disease, could save farmers around the world millions of dollars each year.

Since Jacobsen isolated it in 1994 during a catastrophic Cercospora leaf spot outbreak near Sidney, the bacterium – Bacillus mycoides isolate J, or BmJ – has shown impressive abilities. It has proven effective in fighting a variety of plant diseases caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses. BmJ is a biological control agent, as opposed to an industrial chemical used as a pesticide.

"I’d always been looking to develop a viable biological control product that would be beneficial to people growing a range of crops," said Jacobsen, a professor of plant sciences and plant pathology in MSU’s College of Agriculture. "And I always considered that if I could do that, my career would have meant something."

After years of academic research, an initial U.S. patent process and licensing to Missoula-based start-up Montana Microbial Products, Inc. http://www.mtmicrobial.com/ , BmJ was recently sublicensed to Certis USA, a top manufacturer of biopesticides worldwide. Based in Columbia, Md., Certis plans to market its BmJ-based products around the globe.

Sepp Jannotta, MSU News Service

Full Story: http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=10910