The Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering hosted in Madrid last June the presentation of Plant health in agriculture and forestry. Challenges and perspectives for the next decade (“La sanidad vegetal en la agricultura y la silvicultura. Retos y perspectivas para la próxima década”).
It is a work written by Rafael M. Jiménez-Díaz, María Milagros López and Ramon Albajes, three agricultural engineers who are experts in different areas of plant health. Albajes, a researcher, consultant and former Agrotecnio director, specialises in the ecology and control of agricultural pests.
According to the volume’s prologue, “this book aims to briefly show the reader unfamiliar with plant health the role it plays in agriculture and forestry, as well as to give a glimpse of the role it may play in the near future, when substantial changes are expected in the world of agri-food”.
The germ of the work lies in the declaration of 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health by the United Nations. As the authors themselves indicate, the promotion of social awareness for sufficient and healthy food is essential to improve the health of the global population, which must be considered under the umbrella of the so-called One Health, which refers to the interconnection of human, animal, plant and environmental health.
The Global Health perspective is indispensable to improve knowledge on threats such as zoonoses, such as COVID 19 itself; the effects of certain fungi that can contaminate plants, such as mycotoxins that may be present in food; or contaminations of plant products with human pathogens.
La sanidad vegetal en la agricultura y la silvicultura. Retos y perspectivas para la próxima década counts with the support of the Catalan Departament d’Acció Climàtica, Alimentació I Agenda Rural and can be downloaded from the Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering website, here.