News
09/09/2019
Saving Mediterranean olives from a destructive disease
In 2013, Italian researchers made a troubling discovery: one of the world’s most destructive plant diseases, normally found in the Americas, had made its way to Italy’s olive trees. With no known cure, the pathogen has already affected more than 10 million trees in Italy’s south-eastern tip. If not properly contained, it threatens to spread across the entire Mediterranean basin. The Italian...
26/10/2017
Countries take responsibility for regional desert locust control
The world’s last major locust plague lasted two years between 2003 and 2005, escalating from a few thousand hectares to millions, infesting 20 countries across northern Africa and requiring 13 million litres of pesticide. It cost more than half a billion dollars to control and caused more than US$2.5 billion in harvest losses. The plague eventually declined due to control efforts and...
