Micron win Queens Award
Micron Sprayers Limited is delighted to have won the Queen’s Award to Industry for International Trade to add to an earlier Queen’s Award for technological innovation.
Micron is a small family owned company that has been located in the Bromyard town of Herefordshire for over 35 years. However, it sells worldwide - with over 90% of production exported (with regular sales to over 60 countries).
Micron was founded to improve crop protection techniques and equipment, with particular emphasis on the Third World. The majority of Micron’s production is of hand-held sprayers for smallholder farmers, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where the introduction of Micron’s low volume Controlled Droplet Application equipment is viewed by many, including the World Bank, as one of the rare success stories in agriculture in this region in the last 40 years. Micron sprayers are widely used by some of the world’s poorest countries and people. Micron is also now the world’s leading supplier of application equipment for control of migrant pests, primarily supplied to governments and aid agencies, with Micron’s sprayers in the forefront of the recent battle to halt the last desert locust plague in Africa in 2004-5 (with this equipment also supplied widely to the Middle and Near East).
Micron has won numerous awards for its international activities including recognition of its long term commitment to sustainable development stemming from the dedication of its founder, Edward Bals.
After more than 50 years Micron continues to be at the forefront of innovation in equipment for crop protection. Developments in the last few years include sprayers for public health, shielded sprayers for weed control, a range of weedwipers, sprayers for variable rate application of agrochemicals using GPS systems, novel spray nozzles and atomisers and sprayers for poultry vaccination. Uptake of Micron’s low volume shielded sprayers and weedwipers is growing due to their considerable environmental advantages. Shielded low volume sprayers are now used widely in various UK crops, with strawberries a particular success story, and the Micron range of weedwipers are being used to selectively target weeds in many environmentally sensitive areas.
Micron’s Chairman Tom Bals said: ‘Micron is delighted to have won this award. However, our success, based on constant innovation, was made possible by UK world leadership in the area of crop protection. Sadly, this is currently under threat as UK research continues to decline – a sad situation when agriculture remains the most important activity for the majority of the world’s population and of critical importance for all of us.’
