Farming

Global plant pest standards agreed

Published

8 years ago

May 2, 2018

Global pest: The Oriental Fruit Fly is rapidly spreading

THE BODY charged with keeping global trade in plants and plant products safe has adopted several new phytosanitary standards aimed at preventing destructive agricultural and environmental pests from jumping borders and spreading internationally.

The standardized norms developed by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) cover a range of strategies and techniques used to prevent the introduction and spread of plant diseases and pests to new environments, thereby avoiding their often-devastating impacts on biodiversity, food security and trade.

“This is challenging work with high stakes: each year an estimated 10-16 percent of our global harvest is lost to plant pests. A loss estimated at $220 billion,” FAO Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo said at the opening of this year’s IPPC annual meeting in Rome.

Some $1.1 trillion worth of agricultural products are traded internationally each year, with food accounting for over 80 percent of that total, according to FAO data.

New measures adopted this week by the IPPC’s governing body, the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures(CPM), include:

Standard on the use of various temperature treatments against agricultural pests. The standard aims at ensuring that such treatments are consistently and effectively used in different operational contexts.

The norm covers cold treatment techniques that freeze and kill pests as well as those that raise temperatures past their survival threshold. This can be achieved by submerging them in extremely hot water or exposing them to super-heated steam (for commodities vulnerable to drying out, such as fruits, vegetables or flower bulbs) or dry heat (ideal for low moisture-content items such as seeds or grain).

Revised standard for sanitation of wood packing materials. An existing standard, known as ISPM-15, was updated to include the use of sulphuryl fluoride — a gas insecticide — and new-generation heating technologies that employ microwave and radio frequency waves to generate pest-killing temperatures deep inside wood products.

An expanded standard on the use of heat vapour to kill Oriental Fruit Flies. The highly destructive, fruit-attacking Bactrocera dorsalis originated in Asia but has now spread to at least 65 countries. Its presence in Africa, where it first appeared in 2003, costs the continent an estimated $2 billion in annual losses due to fruit export bans. The control technique outlined under the new measure kills 99.98% of the bug’s eggs and larvae when used correctly.

The IPPC Commission also approved revisions that streamline existing standards targeting fruit flies to make it easier for countries to comply with them and improve their effectiveness, as well as revisions to a standard that establishes best-practice benchmarks for the operation of national pest surveillance programs.

And it endorsed new diagnostic protocols for sudden oak death, a fungi-like organism of unknown origin that attacks a wide range of trees and shrubs in nurseries, introduced into western North America and western Europe through the ornamental plants trade. And it approved new diagnostic protocol for tospoviruses, which affect 1,000 plant species and are causing devastating losses, especially to tomato, potato and squash and cucumber yields.

BENEFITS AND RISKS OF GLOBAL TRADE

The dangerous hitchhikers carried by global trade — plant pests and diseases — once introduced into new environments can quickly take root and spread, impacting food production and causing billions in economic damages and control cost. One recent study in East Africa, for instance, found that just five invasive alien species could be causing as much as $1.1 billion in economic losses annually to smallholder farmers in the region.

Not only can fruits, crops and seeds become infected, but the containers and boxes they travel in, as well. Packaging for overseas shipments is commonly constructed from wood, which is relatively inexpensive, and easily manufactured — but also easily infested with a variety of bark and wood pests, and so act as a vector. Timber and wood-made products like furniture can harbour stowaways, also.

This means that not only are food crops at risk, but forests and trees as well. Recent studies shared during this week’s meeting have shown that the loss of tree cover due to invasive pests may result in an increase in stress related-diseases and possibly elevated human mortality rates.

In another example, the Republic of Korea was recently forced to cut down some 3.5 million trees as a result of the pinewood nematode, and over the past three decades has spent nearly a half a billion dollars on control programs to fight this deadly pest. Additional sums have been spent in Canada and the United States in attempts to stop the thus far unstoppable Emerald Ash Borer.

The need to contain threats such as these are why the IPPC was established in 1952. Since then, it has promulgated some 100 standards covering a broad range of phytosanitary issues. It also runs a number of programs that work to share information on best-practices and build the capacity of developing countries to manage plant diseases and pests, both at home and in trade flows.

Farming

Check ewes at weaning to protect next season’s lamb crop

Published

6 days ago

June 15, 2026

Tom Sinclair

PEMBROKESHIRE sheep farmers are being urged to use weaning as a key opportunity to check ewe condition and deal with any problems before tupping.

With many local flocks now moving towards weaning, farmers are being advised to assess body condition score, as well as checking teeth, feet and udders, while there is still time to improve nutrition ahead of the breeding season.

Dr Alison Bond, Technical Services Manager at Rumenco, said close monitoring at this stage can help avoid major changes in ewe condition and improve overall flock productivity.

She said weaning at around 12 weeks was a good target, when lambs should usually be between 25kg and 30kg and taking very little milk from the ewe.

“There will of course be a focus on the lambs’ readiness for market at this stage, but it is equally important to put a hand across the ewes to assess their condition,” she said.

For lowland flocks, ewes with a body condition score below 2.5 at weaning should be given priority, as they may struggle to reach the target score of around 3.5 by tupping.

Those poorer condition ewes should be grouped separately, moved onto the best available grazing and given appropriate supplementary feeding where needed.

Dr Bond said waiting until closer to tupping could be less effective and may affect performance.

She added that ewes in good condition at tupping are more likely to scan with more lambs, produce healthier lambs after birth, and rear heavier lambs by eight weeks of age.

“It affects the whole production cycle, and not just one element,” she said.

The advice will be particularly relevant to farms across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, where sheep remain a major part of the rural economy and where grass quality can vary sharply depending on weather, soil type and stocking pressure.

Dr Bond said the aim should be to keep ewes between body condition score 2.5 and 3.5 throughout the cycle, avoiding big dips and peaks.

Routine checks at weaning, she said, give farmers the best chance of correcting problems before the tups go in two to three months later.

Pic: Farmers are being urged to check ewe condition at weaning to protect flock performance ahead of tupping (Pic: Tim Scrivener/Agriphoto).

Farming

Reform calls for urgent review of farming scheme

Published

1 week ago

June 13, 2026

Tom Sinclair

LOW UPTAKE HAS RAISED FRESH QUESTIONS OVER THE FUTURE OF SUPPORT FOR WELSH FARMERS

REFORM WALES has called for an urgent review of the Sustainable Farming Scheme after figures showed only around half of eligible farmers have signed up.

The party said the lower-than-expected uptake showed that serious concerns remained within the farming community over the complexity of the scheme, compliance rules and uncertainty about how it will operate in the long term.

Laura Anne Jones MS, Reform Wales’ Shadow Cabinet Minister for Food, Farming and Rural Affairs, raised the issue during questions to the Welsh Government.

She said: “The figures released by the Welsh Government today confirm what many farmers have been saying for some time: the Sustainable Farming Scheme is too complex, too restrictive and too bureaucratic.

“Farmers need certainty and security, not endless paperwork and rigid requirements that fail to reflect the realities of farming in Wales.

“Reform Wales believes the scheme should be reviewed as a matter of urgency, with a greater focus on flexibility, common sense and practical outcomes.

“Welsh farmers deserve a scheme that works with them, not against them.”

The Sustainable Farming Scheme is due to replace previous systems of agricultural support in Wales and has been one of the most contentious issues facing the rural sector.

Farming unions and campaigners have repeatedly warned that any new system must be practical for family farms and must not add unnecessary red tape at a time when many businesses are already under pressure from rising costs, bovine TB and market uncertainty.

Reform Wales said the Welsh Government must now explain how it intends to respond to the level of take-up and whether changes will be made before the scheme is fully rolled out.

Business

Holiday accommodation conversion of historic farm buildings approved

Published

1 week ago

June 13, 2026

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

PLANS to convert historic farm buildings near north Pembrokeshire’s Whitesands beach for use as holiday accommodation have been given the go-ahead, but their use doesn’t have to be restricted to just that purpose.

In an application to Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Matthew James of James Properties, through agent Harries Planning Design Management sought permission for the conversion of two derelict barns to two self-catering holiday accommodation units at Porthmawr Ganol, Whitesands, St Davids.

An officer report said: “The farmstead occupies a prominent position within a landscape characterised by open agricultural fields enclosed predominantly by traditional dry-stone walls, exposed coastal pasture and areas of heathland associated with Carn Llidi.”

It added: “The site lies within the Porthmawr Historic Landscape Character Area, an area recognised for its historic pattern of dispersed settlement, traditional farmsteads, dry-stone wall field boundaries and evidence of medieval and post-medieval agricultural activity.

“The retention and reuse of the existing buildings therefore has the potential to preserve an important element of the area’s historic landscape character whilst securing a viable long-term future for structures that would otherwise continue to deteriorate.”

It said that insufficient evidence had initially been submitted to demonstrate that the buildings were unsuitable for permanent residential conversion and only for self-catering accommodation and therefore an affordable housing contribution should be secured.

Policy would lead to a contribution of £36,400, the report said, but a financial viability assessment by the applicant “demonstrated that the development would not be viable if required to provide the full policy contribution,” the maximum contribution capable of being supported whilst maintaining viability was £12,641.

This reduced figure was accepted, the officer report saying: “Whilst this represents a reduced contribution when compared with the full policy requirement, the submitted viability evidence demonstrates that the development could not reasonably support the full contribution whilst remaining deliverable.

“In these circumstances, securing a reduced contribution is considered preferable to losing the opportunity to secure the restoration and beneficial reuse of the historic buildings.”

It stated that, with the affordable contribution, the scheme would not be limited to self-catering development only.

The application was conditionally approved by Park planners.