New strategy required for delaying insect resistance to Bt crops

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Transgenic Bt crops have been grown around the world since the 1990s and have contributed to increased yields by controlling agricultural pests. Due to the importance of this technology, there has been continuous study into the development of resistance to Bt crops and how best to avoid this happening. A recent investigation into the rapid…
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Landmark climate change report will bring new concerns for food security

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Tomorrow, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will release its fifth global warming report predicting indicators of climate change for the coming years. The expectation is that the temperature is set to increase even more dramatically than the last report predicted in 2007, causing a domino effect on weather conditions, oceanic trends and the multitude of ecosystems which…
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Update: Plant Health News (25 Sep 13)

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We’ve selected a few of the latest stories about plant health. Records this week include the identification of plants’ natural defense mechanisms against pests, the first report of tomato yellow spot virus in Brazil and recordings of foliar necrosis of potato in India. 
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Resolving pest problems in Trinidad and Tobago

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Article by Shamela Rambadan, CABI Country Coordinator. In Trinidad and Tobago many Plantwise plant clinics have been implemented to provide free information and advice to smallholder farmers. To date there are 8 plant clinics in Trinidad and 2 are planned for Tobago. CABI Plantwise is partnered with the Ministry of Food Production with extension workers from the Ministry and…
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Plantwise visits ‘open source GIS’ conference, FOSS4G 2013

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On Thursday 19th November, I attended the ‘Free and Open Source Software For GIS’ (FOSS4G) conference in Nottingham, UK with two of my colleagues from the Plantwise Knowledge Bank. The conference, organised by OSGeo, had the strapline “Geo For All” and aimed to show that the tools that this Geographic Information Systems (GIS) community is…
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Pakistan clinics running well in the Punjab

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Plantwise knowledge bank well-received in Brazil

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Last week, Cambria Finegold, Head of Project Development for the Plantwise knowledge bank, gave a seminar at São Paulo State University (UNESP), one of the largest agricultural universities in Brazil. The seminar, entitled “The Plantwise Knowledge Bank for research on Distribution, Identification, and Control of Agricultural Pests – Use and Potential” generated positive feedback from…
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Update: New Pest & Disease Records (18 Sep 13)

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We’ve selected a few of the latest new geographic, host and species records for plant pests and diseases from CAB Abstracts. Records this fortnight include new rust species and hosts from Northern Pakistan,  Colletotrichum species associated with cultivated citrus in China and the identification and comparison of Botryosphaeriaceae species associated with dieback and stem-end rot of mango…
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A Tale of Two Worlds: Favourable Projections, Looming Dearth

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It is the best of times, it is the worst of times, it is the season of plenty, it is the season of famine – in short, it is that time when the positive medium term outlook for world agriculture is tempered by the “usual suspects.” For the fourth month running, the FAO Food Price…
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Days are numbered for pests in Kenya’s irrigation schemes

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Report by Peter Karanja and Abigail Rumsey Between May and July this year, 22 new plant clinics were established in Kenya. Nine of these clinics were launched by the Smallscale Horticulture Development Project (SHDP), which has been funded by the African Development Bank to help smallholder farmers increase the amount that they produce and earn…
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