What’s on the horizon?

Ant
Pests do not recognise borders. With the increased movement of people and goods, comes the increased risk of pests moving from one geographic area to another. For this reason, it is important to identify and categorize species that are likely to enter a particular geographic area from another geographic area. CABI’s Horizon Scanning Tool (HST)…
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Increasing the demand for and supply of safer food

safer food plantwiseplus
Saturday 16th October marks World Food Day – a day designed to raise awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger and for the need to ensure healthy diets for all. Around 805 million people go hungry every day. With 80% of food consumed in developing regions grown by small-scale farmers, finding a sustainable…
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Apply now for online course on sustainable production practices

Online course MAS ICM
Applications for the first fully online Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Integrated Crop Management (ICM) are now open. CAS1 – Sustainable Production Practices is the first of three new online programmes developed and run by CABI and the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.
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Women in rural agriculture: a CABI interview

female farmer
Women play a significant role in agricultural production. Although women have limited say in decision-making on family farms, they make up nearly half of the global agricultural workforce. However, female farmers face a number of barriers, which must be addressed if we are to achieve a number of Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 5: Gender…
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Plantwise Bangladesh: supporting national crop monitoring

Covid-19 hub training Bangladesh
The CGIAR COVID-19 Hub provides a coordinated research response to the global pandemic threatening health systems worldwide, along with posing serious risks to food security and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. The Hub focuses on supporting national response and recovery work across CGIAR research themes, harnessing knowledge for emergency response, recovery, and resilience.
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Anonymisation: Protecting User Rights and Security

With the ever-increasing shift of focus to data-driven practices, the legal obligations around sharing data are a common barrier. Data protection is an important aspect of data security, with the rights of the users within a dataset needing to be maintained and protected. By following the appropriate data protection principles, the risk of harm to…
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Webinar highlights ozone pollution and its threat to agriculture

Ozone pollution: Ozone domes
CABI’s Léna Durocher-Granger, joined Dr. Felicity Hayes & Dr. Mike Perring from UKCEH in hosting a webinar on the causes of ozone pollution and the consequences for farmers in Africa, Asia and South America. Entitled ‘Ozone Pollution: a current and future threat to tropical agriculture’, the webinar was aimed at policymakers, university lecturers and students in agriculture and food…
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Watch the PlantwisePlus Launch Video

PlantwisePlus launch
This week saw the digital launch of CABI’s new global programme – PlantwisePlus. The online event featured presentations from both CABI representatives as well as partner organisations, including FAO and the governments of Kenya and the Netherlands.
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Update: New Pest & Disease Records (6 October 2021)

new pest records: mirid bug
We’ve selected a few of the latest new geographic, host and species records for plant pests and diseases from CAB Abstracts. Records this month include a new species of Trionymus from Mexico and the first report of mirid bugs as a threat to bottle gourd in India.
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Plant doctors: fighting crop pests through integrated pest management

Okra crop pests
The increase in devastating crop pests, such as the fall armyworm and tomato pinworm, has led to a growth in pesticide use among smallholder farmers. The lack of product knowledge and safety awareness means there is a widespread tendency not to adhere to safety precautions.
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