Combined bacterial and viral infection epidemics: Examining the evidence and appropriate responses to protect crop health (E-Prep)
Lead Research Organisation:
Keele University
Department Name: School of Life Sciences
Abstract
Our vision is to tackle the core topics of vector-borne viral and bacterial diseases (VBD) in agriculture and horticulture, creating a roadmap for research, growers, business and policymakers to focus efforts. Our proposed research can be directly linked to four UKRI research councils' strategic themes, central to the remits of BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC and NERC.
We will host a stakeholder event at Chatham House, planned for September 2024 and led by the former Champion for the UK's Global Food Security programme, Professor Tim Benton. There, we will seek views from stakeholders to the overarching question of what grower activities, scientific tools and social and policy devices are needed to improve the timeliness of first detection of a disease and to identify methods of mitigation to avoid a multi-bacterium, multi-virus epidemic outbreak. We will use sugar beet as an exemplar system in which Virus Yellows (VY) and Syndrome Basses Richesses (SBR), a bacterium complex, threaten UK and European productivity. VY last reached epidemic levels in the UK in 2020, when infections caused £67 million in losses, initiating a policy response by Defra that remains today. SBR is outbreaking in Europe and was last recorded in the UK in 1998. The threat of SBR is elevated due to the predicted El Nino 'super event' that increases the risk of continental vector-borne pathogen drift in 2024.
Leading up to the Chatham event, researchers across the molecular biosciences, robotics, hyperspectral imaging, mathematics, policy, geography and social sciences will collect and review evidence of what is currently known and identify the future challenges in VBD research. The team will be supported by BBRO, KWS, ZEPP and MetOffice partners, who have expertise in plant pathology and meteorological scenario modelling. The project team will focus on 5 research activities:
Stakeholder engagement interviews: We will undertake interviews with key stakeholders from sugar beet and related industries. The interviews will be exploratory dialogues, designed to contextualise and understand what 'preparedness' means for different stakeholder groups in the sector.
Stakeholder engagement using past disease containment examples: We will identify farmer responses to preparedness triggers for containment, examining social triggers and decision tools that did or did not work e.g. forms of messaging, systems for advice and risk communication, incentives, fines, nudges, collective actions.
Identify and review currently available molecular and serological diagnostics for the viral and bacterial components of SBR and VY. We will identify challenges to creating and deploying molecular diagnostics for use by growers as well as the barriers to widescale and routine adoption.
Media preparedness. We will discuss with stakeholders the content and the optimal social media devices to best inform growers about SBR, its symptoms and impacts. We will then develop content to elevate preparedness.
Options for routine vector/pathogen surveillance strategies. We will examine the role of robotics, hyperspectral imaging and modelling atmospheric movements to inform growers of within-season threats. We will seek to understand how complex outputs can be simplified and disseminated to growers and policy makers to enact positive change.
The engagement process and outcomes from the Chatham event will be captured by a Theory of Change approach, an effective tool for identifying future research, industry and societal needs. It is expected that the remaining 4-5 months will be dominated by preparation for phase 2 submission as well as identifying new datasets and models.
We will host a stakeholder event at Chatham House, planned for September 2024 and led by the former Champion for the UK's Global Food Security programme, Professor Tim Benton. There, we will seek views from stakeholders to the overarching question of what grower activities, scientific tools and social and policy devices are needed to improve the timeliness of first detection of a disease and to identify methods of mitigation to avoid a multi-bacterium, multi-virus epidemic outbreak. We will use sugar beet as an exemplar system in which Virus Yellows (VY) and Syndrome Basses Richesses (SBR), a bacterium complex, threaten UK and European productivity. VY last reached epidemic levels in the UK in 2020, when infections caused £67 million in losses, initiating a policy response by Defra that remains today. SBR is outbreaking in Europe and was last recorded in the UK in 1998. The threat of SBR is elevated due to the predicted El Nino 'super event' that increases the risk of continental vector-borne pathogen drift in 2024.
Leading up to the Chatham event, researchers across the molecular biosciences, robotics, hyperspectral imaging, mathematics, policy, geography and social sciences will collect and review evidence of what is currently known and identify the future challenges in VBD research. The team will be supported by BBRO, KWS, ZEPP and MetOffice partners, who have expertise in plant pathology and meteorological scenario modelling. The project team will focus on 5 research activities:
Stakeholder engagement interviews: We will undertake interviews with key stakeholders from sugar beet and related industries. The interviews will be exploratory dialogues, designed to contextualise and understand what 'preparedness' means for different stakeholder groups in the sector.
Stakeholder engagement using past disease containment examples: We will identify farmer responses to preparedness triggers for containment, examining social triggers and decision tools that did or did not work e.g. forms of messaging, systems for advice and risk communication, incentives, fines, nudges, collective actions.
Identify and review currently available molecular and serological diagnostics for the viral and bacterial components of SBR and VY. We will identify challenges to creating and deploying molecular diagnostics for use by growers as well as the barriers to widescale and routine adoption.
Media preparedness. We will discuss with stakeholders the content and the optimal social media devices to best inform growers about SBR, its symptoms and impacts. We will then develop content to elevate preparedness.
Options for routine vector/pathogen surveillance strategies. We will examine the role of robotics, hyperspectral imaging and modelling atmospheric movements to inform growers of within-season threats. We will seek to understand how complex outputs can be simplified and disseminated to growers and policy makers to enact positive change.
The engagement process and outcomes from the Chatham event will be captured by a Theory of Change approach, an effective tool for identifying future research, industry and societal needs. It is expected that the remaining 4-5 months will be dominated by preparation for phase 2 submission as well as identifying new datasets and models.
