Tag Archives: fungus

Feature: Protecting the pollinators part 2 – bees and disease

Posted on April 21, 2014 by argylesock

argylesock says… Here’s the second of three articles about pollinators, from the Wellcome Trust blog, which I’m passing on today.

Posted in agriculture, ecology, miniculture | Tagged apiculture, arachnid, arthropod, bacterium, bumblebee, conservation, data, deformed wing virus, dipteran, disease, disease transmission, emerging disease, fungus, habitat loss, honeybee, hoverfly, hymenopteran, insect, insecticide, mite, miticide, Nosema ceranae, parasite, pesticide, pollination, research, scientist, Varroa destructor, Varroa destructor virus-1, vector, virus | Leave a comment

Biodiversity to feed the world

Posted on February 20, 2014 by argylesock

When people say that the world needs more food, often they’re quoting the United Nations’ (UN’s) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In 2012 FAO predicted that by the middle of this century, the world’s farmers will need to produce 60% … Continue reading →

Posted in food, knowledge transfer | Tagged biodiversity, crop, food, food security, food sovereignty, foraging, fungus, Green Revolution, history, neglected crop, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, population, wild food | 5 Comments

Does the world need more food?

Posted on February 11, 2014 by argylesock

Human populations are growing and people are hungry. Does that mean the world needs more food? The answer depends partly on whether you focus on food sovereignty or food security. My fellow blogger Jessica Duncan at Food Governance tells us … Continue reading →

Posted in food, human health | Tagged child, crop, farmer, food, food security, food sovereignty, fungus, livestock, neglected crop, pastoral, peasant, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, population, poverty, smallholder, vertebrate | 3 Comments

Revealed: the chemical blitz bees face in fields

Posted on January 30, 2014 by argylesock

Dave Goulson at The Conversation tells us about insecticides on British crops. Last year on oilseed rape (rapeseed, canola, Brassica napus) Prof Goulson found the neonicotinoid called thiamethoxam (which, by now, is temporarily banned), the pyrethroids called beta-cyfluthrin and alpha-cypermethrin, … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, ecology, knowledge transfer, money and trade | Tagged alpha-cypermethrin, arthropod, beta-cyfluthrin, brassica, bumblebee, canola, crop, farmer, fungicide, fungus, honeybee, hymenopteran, insect, insecticide, integrated pest management, neonicotinoid, oilseed, pest, pesticide, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, pollination, pollution, prothioconazole, pyrethroid, rapeseed, thiamethoxam, trade, wild bee, wild pollinator | 1 Comment

Irradiated seeds combat world’s most serious wheat disease

Posted on September 16, 2013 by argylesock

Wheat (Triticum spp.) is a staple food in many parts of the world. You can follow my ‘wheat’ tag for more about this crop. Now there are two new varieties to resist a devastating wheat disease. If you’re growing wheat, … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer, money and trade | Tagged biotechnology, breeding, crop, crop variety, disease, disease resistance, emerging disease, evolution, farmer, food, fungus, genetic modification, grain, local variety, mutagenesis, mutation breeding, pathogen, plant_monocot, poverty, research, selective breeding, staple food, trade, Twitter, wheat | Leave a comment

The Role and Risk of Coffee-based Development in Ethiopia

Posted on September 15, 2013 by argylesock

Originally posted on Global Food Politics:
Two Farmers in Ethiopia Pick Coffee Cherries, the fruit processed into coffee beans (Image courtesy The Upcoming). A new report issued by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) claimed that the child mortality…

Posted in agriculture, human health, money and trade | Tagged arboriculture, cash crop, child, coffee, coffee leaf rust, crop, development, disease, farmer, fungicide, fungus, organic, pathogen, plant_dicot, poverty, shrub, trade | Leave a comment

Climate change ‘driving spread of crop pests’

Posted on September 3, 2013 by argylesock

Rebecca Morelle at the BBC tells us about evidence that climate change is affecting crop pests. Crop pests are moving North in the Northern Hemisphere, South in the Southern Hemisphere. Many crop pests are insects and other arthropods. They’re quite … Continue reading →

Posted in food, money and trade, weather and climate | Tagged alien species, arthropod, bacterium, beetle, climate, coleopteran, Colorado beetle, crop, evolution, farm, food, fungus, garden, insect, law, nematode, notifiable pest, oomycete, pest, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, trade, transport, viroid | Leave a comment

Jumping species: how good intentions spread diseases

Posted on September 2, 2013 by argylesock

Ian Le Guillou at Understanding Animal Research (UAR) tells us how infectious diseases jump between species. These jumps often happen because of things that humans do. Sometimes, the disease jumps to us. Diseases that can infect humans and also other … Continue reading →

Posted in ecology, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged alien species, amphibian, apicomplexan, arthropod, bacterium, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, crop, disease, emerging disease, fungus, human, lab animal, laboratory, mammal, naturalised species, parasite, pathogen, pest, plant_dicot, plant_gymnosperm, plant_monocot, protozoan, Toxoplasma gondii, tree, vertebrate, zoonosis | 5 Comments

Facebook game Fraxinus targeted at beating ash dieback

Posted on August 31, 2013 by argylesock

If you use Facebook you could help with research into ash dieback disease. Yes really, anybody online can do this. Crowdsourcing is a new way of doing science, to me, but here are people who believe it can work. Here … Continue reading →

Posted in ecology | Tagged ash, ash dieback disease, Chalara fraxinea, data, disease, DNA, emerging disease, Europe, fungus, genome, pathogen, plant_dicot, research, technology, tree | 3 Comments

Farmers and scientists learn from one another’s diverse knowledge

Posted on August 7, 2013 by argylesock

Climates are changing. Populations are growing. There are no simple solutions. Emile Frison and Jacob van Etten at Climate Change Policy and Practice say that it’s essential for farmers and scientists to learn from one another’s diverse knowledge. I like … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, knowledge transfer, miniculture, money and trade, weather and climate | Tagged biodiversity, climate, crop, crop diversity, crop variety, development, education, farmer, food, fungus, history, human, knowledge, livestock, local variety, microlivestock, neglected crop, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, population, research, scientist | Leave a comment