In this issue:
Changes made by President Barack Obama
Much international attention is directed towards the steps being
taken by President Obama and his administration in relation to the dire
financial situation, but three changes have been noted that will affect
agriculture specifically, science and technology more broadly and food
safety in particular.
President Obama announced his selection for United States Secretary
of Agriculture in December 2008. His selection was Thomas James
"Tom" Vilsack (born 1950), a member of the Democratic Party.
He served as the 40th Governor of the state of Iowa. Vilsack's
nomination was confirmed as Secretary by the United States Senate by
unanimous consent in January 2009. Click
here for more information on the new Secretary of Agriculture.
Affecting science and technology more broadly, President Obama has
signed a Presidential Memorandum on scientific integrity particularly in
relation to government decision making. The President is assigning to
the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) the
responsibility of ensuring the highest level of integrity in all aspects
of the executive branch's involvement with scientific and technological
issues.
The Director of OSTP is required to develop a strategy for ensuring
that (1) the selection of scientists and technology professionals for
science and technology positions in the executive branch is based on
those individuals' scientific and technological knowledge, credentials,
and experience; (2) agencies make available to the public the scientific
or technological findings or conclusions considered or relied upon in
policy decisions; (3) agencies use scientific and technological
information that has been subject to well-established scientific
processes such as peer review; and (4) agencies have appropriate rules
and procedures to ensure the integrity of the scientific process within
the agency, including whistleblower protection. For more details, click
here.
According to an article by Dan Eggen, Staff Writer, in the
"Washington Post" of 15 March 2009, President Obama has
announced new leadership within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
and other changes aimed at improving food-safety. This follows problems
in recent years with some animal and plant products. For the full
article, click
here.
Feedback on any aspects as news, insight and opinion from ISPP
members would be most welcome for this Newsletter.
As this item was being completed, the following came in as a Press
Release from the American Phytopathological Society (APS) and it relates
to the concerns about food.
Food Safety Issues in the USA
Recently, key leaders from The American Phytopathological Society
(APS) Public Policy Board (PPB) met with members of the USDA, FDA, NSF,
EPA, Office of Management and Budget, and White House Office of Science
and Technology Policy (OSTP) and addressed concerns related to human
pathogens on plants and noted that significantly more research is needed
to ensure national food safety. The Chair of the APS Public Policy Board
is Jacque Fletcher, Regent's Professor of Plant Pathology at Oklahoma
State University, USA.
Professor Fletcher, along with other plant pathologists, provided
case studies including the outbreaks of shigatoxin-producing E. coli in
spinach and lettuce, as examples of the tremendous costs and threat that
these agents can create on fresh produce.
"Plant pathologists are well positioned to provide valuable
knowledge on these issues, given their unique expertise investigating
the complex relationships between microbes and plants. APS is calling
for new fundamental and practical research to identify best management
practices and to investigate contamination routes, environmental
survival, and interactions of human pathogens with plants in pre-harvest
situations" said Professor Fletcher. In order to provide additional
investment in this critical food safety research area, the APS PPB is
recommending an interagency research program specifically focused on
gaining fundamental and practical knowledge of human pathogen-plant
interactions.
"The strategy for response must include a pre-harvest
perspective. New targeted research will provide the necessary tools and
strategies, as well as creative cross-disciplinary approaches necessary,
to design effective solutions to microbial contamination of food plants,
which is vital to the protection of U.S. crops", Professor Fletcher
also said. While increased funding for food inspections is important,
checking processing sites will not prevent food contamination if human
pathogens are already colonizing the plant.
Contact Michelle Bjerkness, The American Phytopathological Society,
at mbjerkness@scisoc.org
, or on +1-651-454-7250.
Progress against the Wheat Stem Rust Pathogen Ug99
A Technical Workshop was held in Cd. Obregon, Sonora, Mexico, from
17-19 March 2009, and is reported at http://www.globalrust.org/uploads/file/stem_rust_release_eng.pdf
.
The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative 2009 Technical Workshop confirmed
that the stem rust race known as Ug99 is now in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia,
Sudan, Yemen and Iran, and could spread towards South Asia. Longer
distance movement to other regions could not be excluded, and an
estimated 90 percent of the varieties planted around the world lack
resistance to the race.
A breakthrough was claimed in efforts to develop new varieties that
are not only resistant to Ug99 but also yield more grain than the
current most popular varieties. The new types of high-yield wheat
contain "multiple minor genes" that have resistance to Ug99.
Though this strategy may not provide the same level of protection as
that provided by one or 2 major genes, it is claimed to be effective and
would require the fungus to overcome a larger array of genetic barriers,
thus providing long-term protection.
There are numerous examples of stem rust mutating and overcoming
single major resistance genes. An alarming feature of Ug99 in Kenya is
that it has overcome two additional major resistance genes Sr24 and Sr36
that had been effective against the original form of Ug99, which had
first overcome Sr31.
The superior yields from the new varieties is of major importance.
Averting a crisis will require farmers to replace existing varieties
with resistant ones, even though there may be no immediate threat from
Ug99. Convincing farmers to switch requires offering resistant varieties
that also produce higher yields.
Underlying the valuable progress with resistance breeding is
efficient international cooperation, which is heartening.
Bt Brinjal in India
CropBiotech Update from ISAAA www.isaaa.org/kc
carried an item on brinjal or eggplant as an important vegetable crop in
India. The crop is planted to 550,000 hectares, but it is often input
intensive especially for insecticide applications being prone to attack
from the fruit and shoot borer (FSB), among the most important of
several pests and diseases.
Bt brinjal expressing Bt proteins has been developed as several new
FSB-resistant varieties. Submissions to regulatory authorities in India
indicate that Bt brinjal offers the opportunity to provide effective
control against fruit and shoot borer, and decrease insecticide input by
as much as 80%. The full ISAAA report entitled "The Development and
Regulation of Bt Brinjal in India" is available for downloading
from http://www.isaaa.org/Resources/Publications/briefs/38/default.html
.
All Africa Horticultural Congress: "Grown
Under the Sun"
This will be a specific African event on horticulture to be held in
Kenya about the needs for validating experiences and achievements
through research projects and case studies, for expressing constraints
and expectations and for coordinating efforts and prospective
strategies. See "Coming Events".
The themes of the 2009 Congress will address the following issues for
horticultural crops in Africa: Food Security & Food Safety; Human
Health, Nutrition & Lifestyle Horticulture; Environment &
Natural Resources Management; Socio-economic Issues: Poverty Alleviation
& Wealth Creation; International Trade - Opportunities &
Challenges
BCPC Congress 2009
The British Crop Production Council (BCPC) and Farmers Guardian is
delighted to announce that the BCPC Congress will be coming back to
Glasgow in November 2009. See "Coming Events". Work has begun
on the two and half-day Congress and Exhibition which will see the
return of this major event in the crop production and protection
calendar.
An important industry alliance has been formed between the BCPC and
Farmers Guardian, and the two will partner the running of this large
gathering of crop science and technology business professionals. This
will see two leading organisations pooling their areas of expertise for
the global crop production and protection industry.
Coming Events
The Second European Ramularia Workshop, Edinburgh 2009 - a new
disease and challenge in Barley Production in Edinburgh, UK. 7-8 April
2009. See: www.aab.org.uk .
VI International Postharvest Symposium in Antalya, Turkey. 8-12 April
2009. Contact: erkan@akdeniz.edu.tr
. See: http://www.postharvest2009.com/
.
Advances in epidemiology and control of rusts at Science and Advice
for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), Edinburgh, UK. 22-23 April 2009. See: http://www.aab.org.uk/page.php?start=184&conf=78
.
The 5th International Conference on Biopesticides: Stakeholders'
Perspective (ICOB-V 2009) in New Delhi, India. 26-30 April 2009.
Contact: icob5.biopest@nic.in
. See: http://www.icob5.nic.in
.
3rd International Symposium on Crop Plant Resistance to Biotic and
Abiotic Factors: Current Potential and Future Demands in Berlin,
Germany. 14-16 May 2009. Contact: dpg@phytomedizin.org
. See: www.dpg-bcpc-symposium.de
.
Meeting on "Plant Abiotic Stress - from signaling to
development" in Tartu, Estonia. 14-17 May 2009. Contact: Dr Hannes
Kollist inpas@frens.ee . Phone:
+372-737-4814. See: http://www.ut.ee/inpas/
.
8th International PGPR Workshop in Portland, Oregon, USA. 17-22 May
2009. See: www.capps.wsu.edu/pgpr
.
Training Program: Integrated Pest Management and Food Safety in
Wageningen, The Netherlands. 18 May-12 Jun 2009. Contact: training.wi@wur.nl
.
"Fast Forward" - the annual spring meeting of the Royal
Netherlands Society of Plant Pathology (KNPV) in Wageningen, The
Netherlands. 25 May 2009. See: http://www.knpv.org/en/
.
14th International Sclerotinia Workshop in Wilmington, North
Carolina, USA. 31 May-4 June 2009. See: http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/sclerotinia_conference/index.html
.
SFP National Congress (in French) in Lyon, France. 8-11 June 2009.
Canadian Phytopathological Society Annual General Meeting in
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. 22-25 June 2009. See: www.cps-scp.ca
.
XXIth International Symposium on Virus and Virus-Like Diseases of
Temperate Fruit Crops and XIIth International Symposium on Small Fruit
Virus Diseases in Germany. 5-10 July 2009. See http://www.phytomedizin.org/index.php?id=193
. Source: Professor Dr Wilhelm Jelkmann Wilhelm.Jelkmann@jki.bund.de
Julius Kühn-Institut, Bundesforschungsinstitut für Kulturpflanzen,
Institut für Pflanzenschutz in Obst- und Weinbau, Schwabenheimer Str.
101, 69221 Dossenheim, Germany.
Plant ROS 2009 in Helsinki, Finland. 8-10 July 2009. Contact: organizers@pog2009.org
. See: www.pog2009.org/ .
International Conference on Fungal Evolution and Charles Darwin:
"From Morphology to Molecules" at the Thailand Science Park,
Pathumthani, Thailand. 9-11 July 2009. See: http://www.biotec.or.th/darwinconf2009
.
14th International Congress on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions
in Québec City, Canada. 19-23 July 2009. See: www.ismpminet.org/meetings
.
APS Annual Meeting 2009 at the Portland Convention Center, Portland,
Oregon, USA. 1-5 August 2009. See: http://www.apsnet.org
.
14th Australasian Plant Breeding Conference and 11th SABRAO
Conference in Cairns, North Queensland, Australia. 10-14 August 2009.
See: http://www.plantbreeding09.com.au/
.
I All Africa Horticultural Congress: "Grown Under the Sun"
at the Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya. 31 August-3 September.
See: http://www.globalhort.org/news-events/all-africa-horticulture-congress/
.
IX International Symposium on Thysanoptera and Tospoviruses at Sea
World Resort, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. 31 August-4 September
2009. See: http://www.istt09.org/content/view/13/27/
.
10th International Cotton Conference "Natural Fibres-Their
Attractiveness in Multidirectional Applications" in Gdynia, Poland.
3-4 September 2009. See: http://www.gca.org.pl/x.php/2,326/10th-International-Cotton%20Conference.html
.
2nd World Seed Conference "Responding to the Challenges of the
Changing World: The Role of New Plant Varieties and High Quality Seed in
Agriculture" at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy. 8-10 September
8-10, 2009. See: http://worldseedconference.org/en/worldseedconference/home.html
.
BSPP Presidential Meeting 2009 "Darwin to Disease; Crops and
their pathogens" - Celebrating Darwin's 200th Birthday - University
Museum, Oxford, UK. 22 September 2009. See: http://www.bspp.org.uk/
.
APPS 2009 "Plant Health Management-An Integrated Approach"
at the Civic Precinct, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. 30 September-2 October
2009. See: http://www.apps2009.org.au/
.
Agriculture: Africa's "Engine for Growth - Plant Science &
Biotechnology hold the Key" at Rothamsted Research, Harpenden,
Herts, UK. 12-14 October 2009. See: www.aab.org.uk/contentok.php?id=83&basket=wwsshowconfdets
.
The 13th World Forestry Congress (Forests in development - a vital
balance) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 18-25 October 2009. See http://www.wfc2009.org/index_1024.html
. E-mail: info@wfc2009.org .
9th International Congress on Plant Molecular Biology in St Louis,
Missouri, USA. 25-30 October 2009. Contact: ipmb2009@missouri.edu
. See: www.ipmb2009.org .
The 10th Arab Congress of Plant Protection in Beirut, Lebanon. 26-30
October 2009. See: www.asplantprotection.org
. See also: flyer linked from http://www.isppweb.org/nljan09.asp#2
. Contact: aspp@terra.net.lb
or acpp2009@cnrs.edu.lb
.
"First International Conference of Mycops" in the Institute
of Mycology and Plant Pathology, University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
9-11 November 2009. Contact: Professor Dr Rukshana Bajwa director@mpp.pu.edu.pk
or the Conference Secretary Dr Sarwar Alam drssalam@yahoo.com
.
British Crop Production Council, BCPC Congress 2009, at the Scottish
Exhibition & Conference Centre, Glasgow, United Kingdom. 9-11
November 2009. See: www.bcpccongress.com
.
The 2009 International Conference on Horticulture in Bangalore,
Karnataka, India. 9-12 November 2009. See: http://www.pnasf.org/ich2009.htm
.
5th International Conference on Plant Pathology, with the theme
"Plant pathology in the globalized era", at the Indian
Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India. 10-13 November 2009.
Contact: ipsdis@indiatimes.com
or ipsdis@yahoo.com .
National Soybean Rust Symposium in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. 9-11
December 2009. Contact: dorrance.1@osu.edu
.
Global Biosecurity 2010, Safeguarding Agriculture and the
Environment, at the Brisbane Convention Center, Queensland, Australia.
23 February-3 March 2010. See: www.globalbiosecurity2010.com
.
13th Congress of the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union in Rome,
Italy. 13-18 June 2010. See: www.mpunion.com
. Contact: laura.mugnai@unifi.it
. 12th IUPAC International Congress of Pesticide Chemistry in Melbourne,
Australia. 4-8 July 2010. See: http://www.iupacicpc2010.org/
.
9th International Mycological Congress (IMC9) in Edinburgh, Scotland,
UK. 1-6 August 2010. See: http://www.imc9.info/
.
APS Annual Meeting 2010 at Opryland, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 7-11
August 2010. See: http://www.apsnet.org
.
Plant Virus Epidemiology Symposium at Cornell University, Ithaca, New
York, USA. August 2010. See: http://www.isppweb.org/ICPVE/
.
XXVIII International Horticultural Congress (IHC2010) in Lisbon,
Portugal. 22-27 August 2010. Contact: info@ihc2010.org
. See: http://www.ihc2010.org
.
The 8th International Conference on Pseudomonas syringae and Related
Pathogens in Oxford, UK. 31 August-3 September 2010. See: www.reading.ac.uk/Psyringae2010
. Contact: syringae2010@plants.ox.ac.uk
.
The 18th Biennial Australasian Plant Pathology Meeting and 4th Asian
Conference for Plant Pathology, a Joint Conference, at the Darwin
Convention Centre, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. 27-29 April
2011. Watch: http://www.australasianplantpathologysociety.org.au/
.
Joint Meeting of APS and IAPPS in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. 6-10 August
2011. See: http://www.apsnet.org
.
10th International Congress of Plant Pathology 2013 (ICPP2013)
"Bio-security, Food Safety and Plant Pathology: The Role of Plant
Pathology in a Globalized Economy" in Beijing, China. 25-31 August
2013. Watch: http://www.isppweb.org/congress.asp
.
