The global burden of pathogens and pests on food crops
Tuesday, February 5, 2019 - 09:30
in Mathematics & Economics
Crop pathogens and pests reduce the yield of agricultural production, causing substantial economic losses and reducing food security. Yet, their global burden and their variation over time and among different agroecosystems remains poorly quantified. New research, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, by a collaboration between the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), Cornell University, Penn State University, University of California, Davis and the University of Twente has documented the losses associated with 137 pathogens and pests in five major food crops—wheat, rice, maize, potato and soybean—worldwide.