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Posted 7 March 2005. Crop Management. Prestige™ Plant Growth Regulator Approved for Use on Table Grapes and Kiwis Valent BioSciences Corporation. www.valentbiosciences.com.
Libertyville, IL (February 22, 2005) – Valent BioSciences Corporation (VBC) today announced that the US. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved Prestige™ for use on table grapes and kiwis. Prestige is a new plant growth regulator (PGR) that will help growers produce fruit of excellent size, quality and appeal, adding value for both growers and shippers at harvest and during storage and transportation. “We are excited about Prestige because it is a unique PGR that improves productivity, quality and value for the grower and the consumer, creating a new industry standard for table grape and kiwi production worldwide. Prestige will help growers realize the maximum potential of their table grape and kiwi crops, and will help the entire industry deliver a higher quality product to the consumer,” said Dr. Ricardo Menendez, global business manager for plant growth regulator products at VBC. VBC acquired exclusive development and marketing rights for Prestige from Kim C1 of Fresno, Calif. “We selected VBC to market Prestige because of VBC’s leadership position with PGR products and their strong commitment to bringing new value-added products to the industry,” said Richard Maul, president of Kim C1. VBC has had a long-standing presence in the table grape market with products like ProGibb®, DiPel® and DiTera® among others. Prestige has been tested under an EPA-approved Experimental Use Permit program for three years. Each year, California growers sprayed over 3,000 acres of table grapes and kiwis. During this extensive field testing, growers routinely observed a number of specific benefits. In table grapes, Prestige increased berry size, berry firmness and fruit size, reduced berry shatter and improved overall cluster quality. Prestige will be marketed by Valent U.S.A. Corporation of Walnut Creek, Calif., along with VBC’s other agricultural products for the U.S. markets. Valent BioSciences Corporation, headquartered in Libertyville, Ill., is a worldwide leader in the research, development and commercialization of low risk, environmentally compatible technologies and products for the agricultural, public health, forestry and household insecticide markets. For more information on the products offered by Valent BioSciences, please visit www.valentbiosciences.com. Contact: Valent BioSciences Corporation Dr. Ricardo Menendez 847-968-4715 |
