Researchers have called for more funding for surveillance and monitoring of crop diseases and the insects that carry them, as well as to support growers affected by potential crop loss, in a new report. 

The report, led by Professor James Bell from Keele University, offers 24 recommendations for mitigating the effects of viral and bacterial epidemics to protect crop health, and make UK food crops more resilient to plant diseases. 

The recommendations in the “E-Prep” report  cover all aspects of the response to such threats, from improving first detection and containing disease outbreaks, to mitigating against the impacts of disease and how to fund recovery efforts.  

The report was prepared as part of a project led by Professor Bell, funded through UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) work to tackle infections around the world, which aim to prevent infections in humans, plants, and animals.  

The report was presented at a recent meeting at Friends House, attended by key figures from the agricultural world including growers, academics, businesses, policymakers, and industry bodies. The stakeholder event was held to identify grower activities, scientific tools and social and policy devices that are needed to improve the timeliness of first detection and containment of plant disease, as well as identifying mitigation strategies to avoid a multi-bacterium, multi-virus epidemic. 

For the purposes of the report the research team looked at sugar beet crops, and its susceptibility to diseases like Virus Yellows and Syndrome ‘basses richesses’ (SBR), but Professor Bell says the recommendations contained in the report apply to many viral or bacterial threats to agriculture and horticulture in the UK. 

As well as measures like increased funding, the report also calls for a review of the Plant Health Risk Register to give a more comprehensive overview of the threats growers face, as well as more investment in AI prediction tools to forecast the risk of disease at a given site. 

Professor Bell, Professor of Entomology at Keele University, said: “A combined disease threat could seriously compromise our domestic sugar supply, as it has done on the continent. I am delighted that the E-Prep report is published because it will assist the sugar beet industry in its preparedness.” 

Andrew Dear, Head of Technical Support at British Sugar, added: “British Sugar welcomes this timely report. The findings will undoubtedly help improve understanding of the threat of SBR. It is now for us, as an industry, to review the recommendations and work with experts, including the authors of the report, to develop mitigation strategies to combat the increasing threat of SBR.”