BEE VECTORING TECHNOLOGIES INTERNATIONAL INC.

FORM 51-102F1

MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS

DATED JANUARY 28, 2022

The following analysis concerns the financial situation, operating results and cash flows of Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. ("BVT" or the "Company") for the years ended September 30, 2021, and 2020. The discussion should be read in conjunction with the Company's audited annual consolidated financial statements for the years ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, and the related notes thereto. The Company's financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). All monetary amounts are reported in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted. These documents, as well as additional information on the Company, are filed electronically through the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) and are available online at www.sedar.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document may contain forward-looking statements relating to the Company's operations or to the environment in which it operates, which are based on the Company's operations, estimates, forecasts and projections. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict or are beyond the Company's control. A number of important factors including those set forth in other public filings could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Consequently, readers should not place any undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. In addition, these forward-looking statements relate to the date on which they are made.

Forward-looking information reflects the Company's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to the Company and on assumptions it believes to be not unreasonable in light of all of the circumstances. In some instances, material factors or assumptions are discussed in this MD&A in connection with statements containing forward-looking information. Such material factors and assumptions include, but are not limited to: the forecasted demand for the Company's products and services; the Company's success in obtaining patents for key technologies; the Company's success in expanding its product offerings; the Company's success in building differentiated applications and products; the ability of the Company to achieve rapid incremental customer growth; the Company's ability to retain key members of its management and development teams; and the Company's ability to access the capital markets. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the date of this MD&A and, other than as required by law, the Company's disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

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Business Overview

The common shares of the Company commenced trading on the Toronto TSX Venture Exchange under the stock symbol "BEE.V" on July 7, 2015. The Company's shares stopped trading (voluntarily) on the TSX Venture on August 20th, 2020 and commenced trading on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE) on August 21st, 2020, under the symbol "BEE.C".

BVT has commercialized a patented and patent pending technology specifically designed to utilize bees as natural delivery mechanisms for a variety of powdered mixtures comprised of organic compounds or currently used products which inhibit or eliminate common crop diseases, while at the same time promoting the growth of the same crops. This application process is without the use of water which is beneficial to areas under strict water management practices. In addition, independent companies can deliver their biocontrol's through the BVT platform allowing a broad spectrum of applications without significant capital costs for growers.

The bees walk through the powder mixtures as they exit their hive, and the mixture becomes temporarily attached to their legs enroute to the flowers of the crops of interest. The BVT System consists of a dispenser that is incorporated into the lid of commercially reared bumblebee hives or that attaches to the outside of a commercial honeybee hive. The dispensers have a removable tray or refillable cartridge that can contain non-toxic, organic, pesticides and fertilizers in powdered form, including BVT's proprietary carrier Vectorite™. Vectorite™ allows the bees to effectively pick up the inoculums on their way out of the hive. Multiple inoculums for a variety of different pathogens and pests can be mixed in the Vectorite™ in a process called "stacking". BVT has its own bio control organic inoculant fungi, BVT-CR7, used to inhibit and control certain pathogens in high value crops such as strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes, canola, sunflowers.

The trays or cartridges are changed or refilled approximately every three to nine days in order to replenish the depleted inoculum, ensure the freshness of the inoculant fungi, prevent infections to the bees which may result from bee waste, and avoid packing or clumping of the inoculum in the trays. No special skills are required to replace the trays or refill the cartridges and the process takes a minimal amount of time to complete. Exact and predetermined amounts of inoculum are placed in the tray or in pouches to fill cartridges. BVT has custom designed machinery to precisely fill these sealed trays called Vectorpak™ trays, or in pouches called Vectorpak pouches.

In addition to its bee delivery systems which are now commercially available, the Company has started the evaluation and development of its proprietary biological control agent BVT CR-7 for delivery to crops via applications such as spraying, incorporation into soil and application to seed as a seed coating before planting.

Summary

BVT was established with a view to providing effective protection of crops against disease organisms and insect pests, which is critical for achieving high yield and quality in many pollinated crops. Inadequate protection of crops can lead to major losses in yield and quality of fruit and seed. BVT possesses a patented and patent pending organic crop control and delivery system that has numerous competitive advantages over commercial pesticides and their applications.

The current technology used for protecting the flowers of crops relies heavily on the use of chemical pesticides (fungicides and insecticides) applied as sprays while the crops are in bloom. Problems with current spray technology include:

  • Limited effectiveness because many flowers may open and die during spray intervals and therefore remain untreated. Sprays generally protect flowers for only 3-4 days. As many as half of the flowers during the entire bloom period of a crop may remain untreated by spray programs.
  • Most (up to 95%) of the pesticide is deposited on non-targets, such as soil and leaves.
  • Pesticide sprays often kill or inactivate many beneficial organisms present in crops.
  • Pesticide use risks contamination of the environment, such as soil and water resources.
  • Pesticides can contaminate foods and feeds, such as fruits and seeds and leave a chemical residue.
  • With many crops, such as greenhouse tomatoes, workers cannot re-enter the crop for hours or days after pesticides are applied, which is disruptive to crop production practices and labour use.

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  • Many pesticides lose their effectiveness with repeated use, as disease organisms, and as pests and plants become resistant and insensitive to the repeated use of certain chemicals.
  • Many chemicals require substantial amounts of water to be used as part of the delivery system and result in issues of run-off to the water table.
  • Current chemicals are suspected of killing insects and bees and other organisms long after application with possible long-term detrimental effects on the environment.

BVT's patented and patent pending technology uses bumblebees and honeybees as a system to deliver naturally occurring beneficial fungus and other beneficial microbes to flowering plants. BVT offers an organic means to control diseases and pests and provide plant enhancing properties while requiring zero water for delivery. The delivery method allows for delivery of BVT inoculums either individually or together with other bio controls. Multiple bio controls could be mixed together for delivery by bees to solve a range of problems. The platform can deliver many inoculums or pathogen controlling products effectively. The flower is an effective portal to deliver these controls to crops and bees are the ideal natural way to get to the majority of the blooms. Bees will touch almost all flowers that are in bloom thereby delivering inoculum consistently throughout a bloom period.

Prior to 1990 virtually no bees were used for pollination in greenhouses, however today greenhouses worldwide use millions of bees to pollinate vegetable crops and fruits. Bees are also used in many outdoor crops and orchards for pollination, such as apples, blueberries, and almonds.

The process of using bees as a delivery system is called "bee vectoring". BVT will employ these same bees to deliver inoculants on outbound trips to assist in crop pest control and to deliver a fertilizer or plant enhancer products in greenhouse crops and outdoor crops.

BVT targets diseases and pests that can negatively affect a crop through and around the flower. Initial diseases targeted with its own bio control BVT-CR7, are Botrytis and Sclerotinia. Additional diseases and pests will be targeted as well, including through the use of third-party bio control products.

Further revenue streams are being developed for crops that are not pollinated or to protect crops against diseases that affect the crops at timings other than during bloom where bees would not be used for application of plant protection products. For these revenue streams the Company is developing its BVT CR-7 for application as a seed treatment to seeds of various crops such as soybeans, and for spray or soil application to replace chemical fungicides and enhance crop health.

Botrytis

Strawberries, blueberries or raspberries often grow grey fuzz, which appears over time as the berries are stored or refrigerated resulting in waste. This is Botrytis and it becomes more active as the produce ripens in shipment or storage. The fungal pathogen, Botrytis cinerea, causes blossom blight and berry rot. It overwinters as mycelium in dead leaves and mummified berries of affected crops and as minute black bodies (sclerotia) such as on raspberry canes. Under humid conditions throughout the growing season, spores (conidia) are produced on minute tree-like structures (conidiophores) that grow on the dead foliage, old berries and on sclerotia. In mass they appear greyish hence the name "grey mold". The spores are dispersed in their millions by wind, rain, and overhead irrigation, many to new leaves, flowers and berries. Under favorable conditions of moisture and temperature the spores can germinate and infect these aerial parts of the crop.

The fungus can infect leaves of almost any age, but it remains quiescent and latent inside the leaves until they senesce and turn yellow. Young canes (primocanes) of raspberries can be infected via the leaf petioles and may wilt, die and be covered with grey mold. Flowers of all berry crops are highly susceptible to Botrytis infection. Germinating spores of the fungus can readily infect and colonize all flower parts throughout the bloom period, often turning the blossoms brown. It is from this important entry point that the fungus is able to grow and establish latent infections within the young fruit. Fruit infections generally remain quiescent and without symptoms until the berries are nearly ripe or have been harvested. In strawberries and raspberries, spores produced on unpicked, leaky, or overripe fruit may lead to further flower and fruit infections in the crop.

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Sclerotinia

The soil borne pathogen Sclerotinia causes white mold diseases which can seriously damage and in some cases quickly and completely destroy a crop. Numerous kinds of crops can be attacked, including canola, sunflowers, blueberries and strawberries.

Sclerotinia white mold is a significant risk in all fields of canola and sunflowers in Canada and in many other regions of the world. No viable solution exists for sunflowers as spraying is impractical due to height of the flowers and the frequency of applications needed for adequate control. In many areas, fungicides are no longer effective against Sclerotinia on account of pathogen resistance.

These two diseases, Botrytis and Sclerotinia, are closely related and part of the reason BVT's patent pending biological control agent (biocontrol) works on both pathogens. BVT's bio-control controls diseases by spatial occupation of plant tissues and pre-empting tissue invasion by pathogens. As soon as bees deliver BVT's patented biocontrol to flowers, the fungus germinates and colonizes the flower tissues without causing any harm or symptoms. It colonizes earlier and faster than disease organisms and thereby occupies space the disease organisms would normally use while attacking the plant.

Principal Products

BVT has patents granted and/or pending for the following technologies:

  1. Biocontrol called "BVT-CR7": a particular strain of fungus acting as a beneficial endophyte controlling targeted crop diseases and increasing crop yield;
  2. Vectorite™: a recipe of ingredients that allows bees to carry BVT-CR7 and other beneficial fungi or bacteria in their outbound flights to the crops; and
  3. An integrated dispenser and removable and sealable tray system for bumble beehives in which the Vectorite™ containing BVT-CR7 or other third-party microbial products is placed through which the bees pass and pick up the Vectorite™.
  4. A computer-controlled dispenser system for use with honeybee hives which can dispense in a controlled manner a determinate amount of the Vectorite™ containing BVT-CR7 or other third-party microbial products for delivery to crops using honeybees.

BVT-CR7 is a specific organic strain of a natural occurring endophytic fungus. It has not been genetically modified or altered in any way. Bees and plants are well accustomed to this kind of fungus, and it is harmless to humans. After delivery by the bees to the crops it dies out naturally within 24-48 hours if it is unable to find suitable host plants. BVT-CR7 is a selected strain of a fungus that is commonly found in a large diversity of plants and soils all around the world. It grows harmlessly in the inside of plant tissue. BVT-CR7 is able to control numerous diseases but is especially effective for controlling those caused by the fungal pathogens, such as Botrytis and Sclerotinia discussed above. BVT- CR7 is endophytic in flowers, fruits, leaves, stems, and roots of plant hosts. It does not cause disease or substances toxic to plant tissue and is considered to be residue free. Other microbial agents are not endophytic or have very limited endophytic ability.

As an endophyte, BVT-CR7 also enhances plant growth by organically increasing nutritional uptake, improving root size and structure, improving vegetative growth and size of plants, increasing the number of flowers and flower size, increasing resistance to diseases and environmental stresses, and preventing Botrytis and Sclerotinia development. BVT-CR7 has no re-entry issues (i.e. the time workers have to be excluded from the greenhouse to allow conventional pesticides to dissipate), it can be used up to the day of harvest, it's organic, and its beneficial effects last longer than traditional chemical fungicides.

Berries developing from BVT-CR7 treated flowers have natural built-in protection against diseases and consequently last longer and have a longer shelf life. This gives growers additional valuable time to get the fruit to market and consumers more time to enjoy the fruit. Blueberries, for example, sometimes require 14 days just to get to market.

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Vectorite™ is a formulation of different ingredients including the BVT-CR7 biocontrol, as well as other future biocontrols, specially formulated to allow the powder to attach to the legs and bodies of the bees and thus be carried by the bees towards the flowering crops as they leave the hives. One of the significant benefits to this system is the fact that several bio-controls can be used together to cover more diseases and pests than just those targeted by BVT- CR7, thereby reducing costs and making this system more effective. For example, Thrips are present in almost all greenhouses in the world and a significant issue to the grower. Several bio-controls are already registered and produced by third parties for use in spraying applications to control Thrips. BVT is and will evaluate these bio-controls for suitability in its system and compatibility with BVT-CR7. One such biocontrol is Beauveria, a fungus already registered and produced by third parties. Beauveria is used to control Thrips which either spread a virus that kills crops or lays their eggs in fruit like strawberries rendering them useless. Most if not all greenhouses, including flowering or ornamental greenhouses, in the world, suffer from Thrips.

BVT has developed an inoculum dispenser system that is incorporated into the lid of the commercial bumble beehive. In the dispenser is a removable tray that contains, in powder form, the inoculant fungi and a mixture of products (being, Vectorite™) that allows the bees to effectively pick up the product on their way out of the hive. Vectorite™ allows the inoculant to get attached to the bee's hairy legs and bodies as they walk through the tray on their way out of the hive.

Bumblebees are used because of their efficiency and effectiveness in distributing BVT-CR7. Bumble bee hives are produced commercially and are approximately 14 x14 x10 inches in dimension. Each hive holds up to 300 bumble bees and the bees live for approximately 5-6 weeks then die out naturally. At the end of this cycle, the hives are destroyed. Bumble bees are natural pollinators making thousands of trips a day each and visiting approximately 10 flowers per minute.

The Company has developed a similar system to work with honeybee hives. This system opens up additional opportunities in crops such as almonds and sunflowers where honeybees are used to pollinate crops more commonly.

Seasonality of the business

The Company's business is seasonal and follows crop cycles. In particular the BVT system is used during the blooming period of the targeted crops, which for outdoor crops will occur once in a crop season -- once a year and may last only for a few weeks (eg. 6-8 weeks in the case of blueberries). For the berry corps in North America which are the initial targeted crops, this blooming period is between January (in the Southern growing regions) and May (in the Northern growing regions). This means that revenue will be initially generated during those early months of the year, and the rest of the year there may be minimal or no revenue.

As the business expands to other crops which bloom later in the year, into other geographies around the world which will have different crop seasons, and into greenhouse production where there may be multiple crops seasons in a year, the seasonality of the business will change.

Strategic Positioning

The Company is focusing on three key strategic priorities:

  1. Commercialization in the US: continue to gain grower acceptance through trials and demos, and secure regulatory approvals which will drive revenue in the prioritized crops. The focus is initially in berry crops across the United States, followed by other pollinated crops including fruit and nut trees;
  2. Geographic Expansion: use the know-how gained in the US to replicate the commercial success in other markets around the world which grow the targeted crops;
  3. Portfolio Expansion & Extension: leverage the Company's core assets of BVT CR-7 and its honeybee and bumble bee dispenser systems to develop new revenue streams by developing additional products for delivery using bees, and new application methods for BVT CR-7 to address crop disease control needs in areas such as soil or late season leaf diseases where bees would not be a suitable delivery method since there are no flowers for them to visit.

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Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. published this content on 28 January 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 28 January 2022 23:50:00 UTC.