In this issue:
Federal Funding for Science in
the USA
Further to the editorial article "Changes
made by President Barack Obama" in the ISPP Newsletter of April 2009,
it is very interesting to learn from a former ISPP President, R J (Jim)
Cook, that he was present on 27 April 2009 when President Obama addressed
the National Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, USA.
Jim has sent some news about the address and also about important related
matters that he discussed with other members of the Academy and with
senior federal administration personnel.
President Obama said that his goal was to invest
3% of the national GDP in science, representing the largest commitment to
scientific research and innovation in American history. Investments were
to be made in basic and applied research, in creating new incentives for
private innovation, in promoting breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and
improving education in mathematics and science. This was strongly welcomed
by the audience.
A transcript of President Obama's address may be
seen by clicking here.
The 3% of GDP would be part of the annual federal
budget for science, including research and science education, and
distributed among the many federal agencies with a science mission. They
would include the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of
Health, Department of Commerce, Department of Interior, Department of
Agriculture (USDA), Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy,
Department of Defense etc.
In other sessions at the meeting, Jim pursued
awareness that agricultural research was not to receive any of the the
once-off $750 billion appropriated by Congress and intended to help turn
the economy around. Some billions of this stimulus money will be awarded
mainly through federal agencies with a science mission (USDA omitted) as
competitive grants. For example, $10 billion of the stimulus funds were
destined for the National Institutes of Health; $4 billion to the National
Science Foundation and $1.6 billion to the Department of Energy's Office
of Science.
In one session with key administration personnel,
Jim questioned why the USDA among all the federal agencies with a science
mission was singularly omitted from receiving any of the stimulus funds
for research. This was despite these personnel acknowledging the
importance of agriculture in meeting the challenges of energy security and
climate change in addition to the challenges of global food security.
Jim and colleagues in the Applied Biological,
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences later joined together and sent a
letter to the Secretary of Agriculture, Mr Tom Vilsack. They expressed
their dismay and even disbelief that the USA Department of Agriculture was
omitted from among the federal agencies with a science mission to receive
stimulus funds in support of research.
They pointed out that "The economic return on
investment in agricultural research and extension in the USA and worldwide
is as great as or greater than for any other industry or enterprise, not
to mention contributions to the American quality of life. Omission of USDA
from the agencies with a science mission reflects a major misunderstanding
or, worse, a lack of understanding among policy makers that must be
corrected."
News of a reconsideration by the administration
may come.
Congratulations to Bob McIntosh
Dr Robert A McIntosh has been awarded an AO, an
Order of Australia, which is a most prestigious Australian civil honour.
This was announced on 8 June 2009.
The award is for service to agricultural science
in Australia and internationally, particularly through research in the
area of wheat genetics and rust disease and as an educator and mentor.
Bob is at the Plant Breeding Institute - Cobbitty,
The University of Sydney, Private Mail Bag 11, Camden, NSW 2570,
Australia.
Xanthomonas Wilt in Bananas in
Africa
A Feature Article in Plant Disease (2009) 93 (5),
440-451, is entitled "Xanthomonas Wilt - A Threat to Banana
Production" written by Leena Tripathi and others. The pathogen is
Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum reported in Uganda in 2001 and
subsequently in Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, and
Burundi, the largest banana-producing and consuming region in sub-Saharan
Africa. The major threats are to food security for millions of people and
income to millions of farmers in the Great Lakes region of East and
Central Africa.
The article provides an excellent account of the
disease, which is well-shown in photographs, its implications, current and
difficult approaches to management and visions of future approaches
including manipulation of defence systems and development of resistant
cultivars through international co-operations. It is highly recommended
reading.
See: http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/toc/pdis/93/5.
Contribute to "The History
of ISPP and ICPPs"
Documentation and personal stories about major
events in the life of ISPP are being compiled into a History for future
access at http://www.isppweb.org .
You are encouraged to contribute items of historical interest associated
with some action of ISPP or a Congress (ICPP) event. Perhaps you were in
on the organization and affiliation of an ISPP Subject Matter Committee,
got assistance forming a national society or had a career changing
experience due to the ISPP or a Congress. Please share it. Photos of ISPP
activities of historical significance may also be published. Charlie Delp
will be glad to receive your contributions for possible inclusion in the
History. Send them to charliedelp@verizon.net.
Questions about Training in
Plant Pathology
At ICPP2003 in New Zealand, a discussion on the
provision of courses in Plant Pathology for students normally domiciled in
developing countries was started and the outcomes were summarised in
August 2003 by Richard Strange, now Editor of ISPP's "Food
Security". The summary is at http://www.isppweb.org/foodsecurity_phdtraining.asp.
The discussion is not over, and recently Richard
received a message from a member of the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana.
It raises issues and questions on the themes of the discussion but in the
context of today in a changing world.
See: http://www.isppweb.org/foodsecurity_congresschallangeakrofi.asp
in order to see the message. Further input to the question is welcome.
Australian and Indonesian
Research Partnership
Indonesia has been the world's third largest
producer of cocoa for at least twenty years. Cocoa is the main source of
income for many thousands of smallholder families, half of whom live in
Sulawesi, Indonesia. The growers' livelihoods are under threat because
production has been cut by up to 50 per cent because of pressure from
pests and diseases, ageing trees and falling soil fertility. The cocoa
growers in Sulawesi should benefit by growing new pest-resistant and
high-yielding varieties developed though an Australian and Indonesian
partnership.
The Australian Centre for International
Agricultural Research (ACIAR) has grouped Australian and Indonesian
research and extension agencies together with the chocolate company
"Mars Incorporated" in a partnership with smallholders to
encourage better crop management and re-planting with improved varieties.
In particular, researchers from La Trobe University, University of Sydney
and Mars Symbioscience have been working with farmers to select resistant
varieties of cocoa and test them across Sulawesi. Mars Symbioscience,
which has a long-term commitment to improving the environmental, economic
and social sustainability of the cocoa industry in Sulawesi, is making a
major financial and in-kind contribution to the program.
The cocoa improvement program is part of the
Smallholder Agribusiness Development Initiative in eastern Indonesia,
under an Australian Indonesia Partnership. The Initiative is helping
smallholder farmers move from being opportunistic and
subsistence-orientated towards being profitable and productive smallholder
agricultural businesses.
The Partners are ACIAR, The Australian Agency for
International Development (AusAID), Masterfoods Australia/New Zealand, La
Trobe University, University of Sydney, Assessment Institute for
Agricultural Technology (South Sulawesi) (BPTP), Assessment Institute for
Agricultural Technology (Southeast Sulawesi) (BPTP), Biotechnology
Research Institute for Estate Crops (BRIEC) Indonesia, Indonesian Coffee
and Cocoa Research Institute (ICCRI) Indonesia, Provincial Agricultural
Services (Estates and Horticulture) Indonesia and Mars Symbioscience.
See: http://www.aciar.gov.au/cocoa.
American Phytopathological
Society (APS)
Once again, the many advantages of investigating
the wealth of material available from the American Phytopathological
Society are apparent by visiting http://www.shopapspress.org/.
Listed are new titles as books, compendia on plant
diseases and colour atlases related to diseases and many older ones that
are highly relevant in each category.
A visit to the APS site at http://www.apsnet.org/
will also be valuable with so many activities and products on display,
including coverage of the forthcoming Annual Meeting of APS in Portland,
Oregon, USA, from 1-5 August 2009.
The Global Horticulture
Initiative
The Global Horticulture Initiative is a program
intended to foster more efficient and effective partnerships and
collective action around the world. It is organized as a consortium, a
limited number of national and international institutions formally
organized to collaborate in research, training, and technology-generating
activities designed to meet objectives that have been mutually agreed
upon. The partners are AVRDC, CGIAR, CIRAD, CTA, FAO, GFAR, INRA, IFAP,
ISF, ISHS, PROTA, and a number of Associations and Networks in Africa.
The Initiative promotes research in horticulture
and horticultural sciences for the developing countries. The issues at
stake transcend national and regional boundaries.
See: http://www.globalhort.org/.
CBIT and Biological
Identification Software
See http://www.cbit.uq.edu.au/
for the Centre for Biological Information Technology (CBIT) in the Faculty
of Biological and Chemical Sciences, University of Queensland, Australia.
CBIT develops, distributes and supports commercial quality software for
application in research, education and training. CBIT has two main
research themes. These are identification and diagnostic guides for
biological taxa and e-learning scenarios that provide interactive learning
experiences.
See: www.lucidcentral.org
for CBIT's Lucid™ identification software. Much of this software is
about Australian taxa and habitats, but some has international coverage.
"Pest Thrips of North America" includes morphological keys,
molecular identification techniques and other information relevant to
biosecurity activities in the USA and Canada. "Pacific Island Plant
Restoration" is an interactive plant database available for use by
the public. It covers Hawaii, American Samoa, Palau, Guam, Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia.
"Sweetpotato DiagNotes" is an interactive tool for extension
officers, students, research scientists and others who want to learn about
and diagnose problems in sweetpotato crops. It has been produced by an
international team including PhilRootcrops at Leyte State University, the
Philippines, and The International Potato Centre.
An Interesting Paper on
Suberin
The Crop Biotech Update of 29 May 2009 has an item
"Suberin Plays Vital Role in Plant Nutrient Absorption" based on
research by David Salt and colleagues. Plant pathologists are used to
thinking of suberin as being laid down in increased amounts as a reaction
product at infection sites in some plants. The new research used a mutant
and uninfected Arabidopsis that produces twice as much suberin as normal,
and indicated that this may lead to better absorbtion of nutrients. By
adjusting the amount of suberin in roots, plants could be engineered to
allow for easier absorption of nutrients. Plants with more suberin were
found to contain less calcium, manganese and zinc, and high sodium, sulfur
and selenium in their leaves.
Salt and colleagues also observed that plants with
twice the amount of suberin activated a defense mechanism to keep from
wilting. Suberin restricted water absorption, and the plant allowed less
evaporation of water from the leaves. Manipulation of suberin might also
lead to the development of plants that use water more efficiently.
See the paper: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1000492
. See: http://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/
for Crop Biotech Updates.
Knowledge, Technology and
Alleviation of Poverty
This is the title of a video made by the
International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).
The video is now available in an abridged form with subtitles in 14
languages beyond the English of the original full-length version. The
languages are Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Bangla, Chinese, French, Hindi,
Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Tagalog, Thai, Urdu and Vietnamese.
It presents major findings about the Global Status of Commercialized
Biotech/GM Crops in 2008 and addresses the growing interest in biotech
crops in the past years, including substantial advances in Africa.
See: http://www.isaaa.org/Resources/videos/gs2008/abridged/
.
Coming Events
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: 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
Conference.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.
"Genetics 100 Years On" a symposium at
the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK. 9-11 September 2009. See: http://www.jic.ac.uk/centenary/events/Genetics100YearsOn/.
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/.
Annual Meeting of SIPAV, the Italian Society for
Plant Pathology, in Locorotondo, Bari, Italy. 28 September-1 October 2009.
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 also flyer linked from an item in
the May 2009 Newsletter. 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.
7th International Workshop on Grapevine Trunk
Diseases in Santa Cruz, Chile. 17-21 January 2010. See: a link to a
circular in a news item in the May 2009 ISPP Newsletter.
Global Biosecurity 2010, Safeguarding Agriculture
and the Environment, at the Brisbane Convention Center, Queensland,
Australia. 23 February-3 March 2010. See: www.globalbiosecurity2010.com.
Phytophthora Diseases in Forest Trees and Natural
Ecosystems - 5th Meeting of the IUFRO Working Group in Rotorua, New
Zealand. 7-12 March 2010. Queries to Pam Taylor, phone: +64-7-3435727,
Fax: +64-7-3480952. Email: pam.taylor@scionresearch.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.
International Plant Virus Epidemiology Symposium
in Cornell, New York, USA. 20-24 June 2010. See: http://www.isppweb.org/ICPVE/.
Contact: Professor Alberto Fereres at afereres@ccma.csic.es.
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.
