Scotland’s Plant Health Centre was launched in 2018 and its directorate is headed up by ENDURE partner the James Hutton Institute. It is designed bring the plant sectors in agriculture, horticulture, forestry and the environment together to co-ordinate plant health knowledge, skills, needs and activities across the country.

The James Hutton Institute website reports: “Scotland’s plants underpin the health of the nation, but plant pests and diseases can cause major economic, environmental, and social costs. Increased global movements of plants and soil, coupled with the effects of climate change, are allowing novel pests and diseases to take hold or endemic ones to flourish.

“To raise awareness of these issues, and coinciding with the UK Plant Health Week (19-27 September), Scotland’s Plant Health Centre has launched a set of five Key Principles, which outline important steps to protect Scotland’s plant resources.”

The five key principles are:

• Source plants with care: Human movement of plants is an important pathway for spreading pests and diseases which may hitchhike on plants, in seed, soil and packaging.
• Keep it clean: Biosecurity best practice can reduce the spread and establishment of plant pests and diseases. These organisms may be microscopic and can easily go unnoticed.
• Plan now for future challenges: Designing, modifying and managing systems to increase their resilience can reduce the impacts of pests and pathogens in future.
• Embed plant health in policies and practices: Developing consistent practices, incentives, guidance and regulation can minimise the risk of outbreaks and their consequences.
• Promote widespread understanding and awareness of plant health threats: Informed individuals and businesses can minimise threats to plant health and reduce the unwanted impacts of pests and diseases.

A series of short stories have been produced to bring these principles to life and celebrate Scotland’s plants. These include a piece written by the James Hutton Institute’s Ian Toth and Damian Bienkowski exploring the challenges in keeping potato crops disease-free.

Ian, who is director of the Plant Health Centre, told the James Hutton Institute website: “Plant diseases don’t respect borders and cause problems across all plant species, from iconic forest trees to the smallest of wildflowers and taking in ornamentals, garden plants and all our crop species as they go.

“With thousands of plant species in Scotland and 1,000 novel pests and diseases listed on the UK plant health risk register, there has never been a more crucial time to pool resources and bring scientists and land users together to act.”

For more information:

• Read the full story on the James Hutton Institute website here
• Read more about Scotland’s Plant Health Centre here
• Read more about the International Year of Plant Health here