CHAIRMAN’S REVIEW
I am pleased to report that during 2005 the Company
made significant progress in developing its terpenebased
technology for agricultural use and, through
licencing agreements, has made important steps
towards early commercialisation of its intellectual
property. In addition we have applied for a number of
new crop protection patents and have had one of our
important applications granted.
In the first quarter of 2006, the Company completed
two out-licence and distribution agreements with
Redestos and Xeda. In addition, our encapsulated
terpene technology has received interest from several
other major potential partners. This has led to six of
these companies entering into cooperative testing
agreements, resulting in over thirty trials of this nature
currently taking place.
The broad potential of our encapsulation technology
is being realised in an enlarged, but focused,
programme of trials, conducted by a network of diverse
researchers located from the upland plateaus of South
America to the tropical lowlands of South East Asia.
Many of these new developments will identify new
markets to enter in addition to those we are currently
focused on, namely:
• Botrytis on grapes & other fruit crops
• Powdery Mildew on grapes, fruit and vegetables
• Downy Mildew on grapes and other high value
crops
• Nematodes affecting perennial fruit crops and
intensively grown vegetables
• Late blight of potatoes
• Glasshouse pests
Of these, our most advanced product is for the control
of Botrytis. This product will go through its final testing
phase extensively in both Southern and Northern
Europe this summer to confirm its efficacy and safety,
to both the crop and consumer, prior to it being
granted European regulatory approval. Work on US
regulatory approval has commenced with extensive
efficacy testing being undertaken in North America
during 2006.
Research & Development
After initially assisting in the development of our
terpene encapsulation process in 2004/5, our pilot
plant in Atlanta, Georgia has been used to produce
larger quantities of a wider variety of high grade
products, to support our testing requirements.
Development work at our lab at Worcester,
Massachusetts continues to investigate new ways of
further enhancing the efficacy of the basic technology.
This research has led to new combinations of terpenes
for use against existing and newly identified problems.
Screening activities throughout 2005 have identified
the most effective terpene mixtures for use against a
variety of plant and human pathogens and pests.
Cornell University’s pathologists have continued to
provide support to our development team as disease
control moves from laboratory to crop. Their activities
have highlighted issues such as the use of adjuvants, to
improve product performance, and the customising of
products to the individual disease and crop.
After receiving exciting nematode screening results
from our principal researchers in Colorado, Florida and
Capetown, we are to conduct further screening work in
Greece and the UK this year, prior to moving these to
the field in the next phase of development.
Fieldwork
Eden’s heavy activity in Greece during 2005 saw the
successful completion of six trials, under our agreement
with Ecogen and John Boutari Wineries. This was
supported by a further thirteen trials under the
direction of Agrisearch International, a leading
European field-based agricultural research company, in
Spain, Portugal and Italy. Evidence from these trials was
presented to the regulatory authorities in Greece, who
agreed that the efficacy shown fully supported our plan
to apply for regulatory approval. Second and final year
trials in these regions are progressing well under the
supervision of Agrisearch. This programme has been
greatly expanded to provide the breadth of efficacy and
safety data needed to satisfy regulatory authorities
throughout the Mediterranean region. This process will
lead on to the commercial release of our first product
for Botrytis control, initially through Redestos, our
commercial partner in the Eastern Mediterranean.
During the European winter, trials conducted in
Tasmania and South Australia, and under glasshouse
