The most recent extension of the containment zone now covers the whole of the Salento peninsulaIn 2013, a few olive trees near Gallipoli, in Lecce province in the heel of Italy’s boot, seemed to be dying of drought even though there was water. Turned out they had a disease caused by a nasty bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa, and it was the first time this particular disease had been identified in Europe. In California, where Xylella causes Pierce’s Disease in grapevines, it costs about a million dollars a year to try and control it. Plans were quickly drawn up in an attempt to control the disease, and equally quickly disrupted.
One of the 10 potentially resistant olive seedlings discovered in a dead olive grove Instead of killing maybe 3000 trees, more than four million have died in the past six years, and the disease is completely out of hand. When I was in Puglia in 2015, having just got interested in the story, it was quite exciting to see the occasional dead tree, marked for removal. This year, I was sickened to find whole landscapes, once covered with the glittering silver of olive leaves, brown and lifeless.
How did that happen?
Notes
Many, many sources provided the information that underpins this episode, notably Diffusion of xylella in Italian olive trees, a website that acts as a kind of clearing house, and the pages it linked to.
Finally got time to listen to the podcast. Broke my heart 💔 and made me angry 😡 . Thank you for sharing this tale of human folly. Not pretty but tales like this one need to told from time to time.
Jeremy, this is fascinating. Is this a modern issue created by globalisation or have crops and plantations always had such issues? I am reminded of a longread on the Guardian discussing boars and disease that is carried around the world.
Karima Moyer, a once and future guest on the podcast, took me gently to task for something I said in the most recent episode. “Fastidioso in Italian means annoying, and is all too appropriate!” Having pointed out that scientific names are all Latin, albeit some very strange Latin when converted from another language, rather than Italian, I thought I had best investigate further. Xylella – the genus – is obvious enough, from the Greek for wood, along with the diminutive ending -ella because it is a tiny thing.
What about fastidiosa, the species? An online Latin dictionary gives four meanings:
1. disdainful
2. exacting
3. nauseating
4. squeamish
All along, I had “exacting” in mind, and thought that perhaps the species name was a subtle little bit of taxonomic sarcasm, as I suggested in the podcast. But, as ever, worth checking, so off I went to the original description of Xylella fastidiosa. There I learned that fastidious is an adjective applied to a few genera of bacteria, where it means “nutritional fastidiousness” in the sense that these bacteria are picky eaters in the laboratory. They need a specialized growth medium, especially when they are first being isolated. And that’s why the discoverers called it Xylella fastidiosa.
(fas. tid. i. o’sa. N. L. m. adj. fastidiosus, highly critical; referring to the nutritional fastidiousness of the organism, particularly on primary isolation).
Obviously not as picky when it comes to the wild, with more than 350 plant species on its menu.
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I suspect @TheEconomist writer went on this road trip after listening to @EatPodcast eatthispodcast.com/xylella-2019/
twitter.com/theeconomist/s…
The genetic ancestry of American Creole cattle inferred from uniparental and autosomal genetic markers. Out of Africa…
Tracing the genetic origin of two Acacia mearnsii seed orchards in South Africa. For one of the orchards, the origin is unknown, but it’s distinct to all the other, known provenances.
Genetic Characterization of Apulian Olive Germplasm as Potential Source in New Breeding Programs. Ok, but unclear what all this means for Xylella resistance, which presumably was the main reason for doing the work?
Whole-genome resequencing of Cucurbita pepo morphotypes to discover genomic variants associated with morphology and horticulturally valuable traits. The two subspecies were domesticated and evolved independently.
Mapping the effects of drought on child stunting. Lower precipitation is bad for kids.
Governing Seeds in East Africa in the Face of Climate Change: Assessing Political and Social Outcomes. Wealthier, more food secure households are more likely to grow maize hybrids. Cause? Effect? But in any case the commercialization agenda has left sorghum behind.
Exploiting genetic variation in nitrogen use efficiency for cereal crop improvement. Back to the genebank. Just one of a whole issue on genetic variation in physiological traits.
Black Sigatoka in bananas: Ecoclimatic suitability and disease pressure assessments. The high yield areas are most at threat.
Fats of the Land: New Histories of Agricultural Oils. Hidden histories are the best histories.
Food Provisioning Services Via Homegardens and Communal Sharing in Satoyama Socio-ecological Production Landscapes on Japan’s Noto Peninsula. Sharing promotes diversity. Kinda beautiful.
Cow Sharing and Alpine Ecosystems: A Comparative Case Study of Sharing Practices and Property Rights. The jury is out on whether it contributes to conservation, but it still seems pretty cool.
Horse phenotyping based on video image analysis of jumping performance for conservation breeding. Judges don’t know what they’re talking about.
Preserving the nutritional quality of crop plants under a changing climate: importance and strategies. Mainly due to eCO2. Need to breed for it under the new conditions. Or try other crops.
Finally got time to listen to the podcast. Broke my heart 💔 and made me angry 😡 . Thank you for sharing this tale of human folly. Not pretty but tales like this one need to told from time to time.
Wanna work in a genebank in Niamey?
Get to grips with brambles. The whole series is worth following.
More on that proposed livestock genebank in Uganda.
On his holiday, Jeremy mainly looked at dead olive trees. Freak.
The Potato King looks like a cool movie. Chef Ramsey’s latest? Maybe not so much.
More chefs, this time fiddling with rice in Tanzania, of all places.
Will they do wild rice next?
Peas getting a chance.
But does it qualify as underutilized still, I wonder?
Jeremy, this is fascinating. Is this a modern issue created by globalisation or have crops and plantations always had such issues? I am reminded of a longread on the Guardian discussing boars and disease that is carried around the world.
Karima Moyer, a once and future guest on the podcast, took me gently to task for something I said in the most recent episode. “Fastidioso in Italian means annoying, and is all too appropriate!” Having pointed out that scientific names are all Latin, albeit some very strange Latin when converted from another language, rather than Italian, I thought I had best investigate further.
Xylella – the genus – is obvious enough, from the Greek for wood, along with the diminutive ending -ella because it is a tiny thing.
What about fastidiosa, the species? An online Latin dictionary gives four meanings:
1. disdainful
2. exacting
3. nauseating
4. squeamish
All along, I had “exacting” in mind, and thought that perhaps the species name was a subtle little bit of taxonomic sarcasm, as I suggested in the podcast. But, as ever, worth checking, so off I went to the original description of Xylella fastidiosa. There I learned that fastidious is an adjective applied to a few genera of bacteria, where it means “nutritional fastidiousness” in the sense that these bacteria are picky eaters in the laboratory. They need a specialized growth medium, especially when they are first being isolated. And that’s why the discoverers called it Xylella fastidiosa.
Obviously not as picky when it comes to the wild, with more than 350 plant species on its menu.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold: latest on the olivapocalypse from @EatPodcast eatthispodcast.com/xylella-2019/ #xylella
Latest episode: eatthispodcast.com/xylella-2019/
Latest episode: eatthispodcast.com/xylella-2019/
Xylella fastidiosa ya da Chronicle of a Death Foretold eatthispodcast.com/xylella-2019/