Enhancing Europe’s readiness for managing fall armyworm, an invasive pest threat
The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, is one of the major insect invaders in maize production regions worldwide. Over the last decade, this American-origin caterpillar has invaded Africa and Asia, whilst heavily impacting yields. In some countries, food security has been challenged. In other countries, the sudden heavy use of pesticides to control this invasive has created health and environmental problems. The pest has now started to migrate into Europe which is causing concern. Fall armyworm is a new pest to Europe, so the expectation is to use pesticides to control it. This collaborative project aims to improve the preparedness of European agricultural actors through safer and more sustainable control practices.
MIRRI: improving access to microbial resources, services and data
Microorganisms are vital natural resources for biotechnology; they help advance human health, improve food security and provide innovative solutions to research and development. The European microbial landscape is fragmented and resources or data are hard to find. The Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure (MIRRI) is resolving this; integrating the main microbial domain Biological Resource Centres and their supporting services and data into a novel pan-European research infrastructure.