You may or may not have noticed from the headlines of the past years: in our interconnected world the food systems are increasingly under pressure.
Cross-border trade has brought prosperity to households and food diversity to our kitchens, but also an increased risk of transporting pests and pathogens. Illegal trade in live animals, which accounts for $8-10 billion annually, exacerbate these hazards yet even more.
Climate change is another global challenge, unleashing heat waves, floodings and hurricanes on our cultures. Moreover, warmer temperatures provide ideal breeding conditions for pests and pathogens attacking plants and livestock. The biblical Desert Locus plague that clouded over the Horn of Africa in 2020 was due to unusual high rainfall and flooding in areas usually spared by the insect. A year later, homeowners and farmers in the Northeast, Midwest, South and Southwest United States watched in horror as an unprecedented fall armyworm invasion stripped down rice, soybean, alfalfa and other crop fields. The United Nations reckon some 40% of global crop production is currently lost to pests while plant diseases cost the global economy more than $220 billion annually.
