A new AI-powered app scans banana crops for early signs of disease

By Emma Bryce. Reblogged from Anthropocene. The banana is the world’s most popular fruit: we consume 100 billion of them a year. And yet, their future is threatened by a spate of diseases that are ravaging crops worldwide. Now, researchers have developed a tool to tackle these silent killers: an artificially-intelligent smartphone app that can scan banana…
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Update: Plant Health News (04 Dec 13)

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Here’s a taste of some of the latest stories about plant health, including a new banana disease identified in Africa, ways to deal with oil seed rape pests after the neonicotinoid restrictions and the role of agricultural cooperatives and storage in rural Ethiopia. Click on the link to read more of the latest plant health news!
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Typhoon Devastates 10,000 ha of Banana Plantation In the Philippines

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The Philippines, the world’s third largest exporter of bananas, has lost up to a quarter of its banana plantations after typhoon Pablo, also known as typhoon Bopha, struck. The typhoon is one of the most powerful ever recorded in the island of Mindanao and has caused the deaths of over 400 people as well as…
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Which is the most important plant-pathogenic fungus?

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A survey by the journal, Molecular Plant Pathology, had 495 responses from international fungal pathologists on what they thought the most scientifically and economically important fungal plant pathogens were. Several of the ‘top 10’ fungi from these results are those that infect cereal crops, which isn’t surprising as cereals such as wheat and rice are…
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