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Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

nature.com

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Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#41

Post by YeGoblynQueenne »

chmaynard wrote: post #2

This looks like an opinion piece disguised as objective reporting. There's just enough factual information to make it seem credible but the author is clearly taking sides. For example, the article characterizes people with environmental concerns as "anti-science" yet there's no evidence presented to support this point of view.

Scientists were accused of having spread the bacterium delierately, or allowed to become endemic through neglect, that they have been subject to the corrupting influence of business (in particulary solar companies who might stand to profit from the clearing of olive groves), that they have a remedy but will not release it, that they are wrong about the cause of the disease which is instead a fungus that can be dealt with without having to cut down the infected trees, etc [1].

None of the above is a direct attack on "science" in general, as a process, or a concept, nor an attack on scientists in general. However, all these sound a great deal like the claims of various anti-science conspiracy theorists, like anti-vaxxers or HIV-denialists: scientists are in bed with big pharma, they spread HIV through infected needles, vaccines are what cause disease, etc.

"I'm not saying that this proves anything- I'm just stating the facts".

___________

[1] https://www.nature.com/news/italian-scientists-vilified-in-w...

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#42

Post by _eht »

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #30
superflyguy wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but this is unprecedented for a developed country. Yes, they were eventually cleared. Great. Some doubts remain but it cannot be proved beyond all reasonable doubt that they were witches. Not guilty!

I'm pretty sure the US is considered a developed country and it routinely ignores scientists' warnings about the climate and the environment in general.

It’s actually not part of my routine at all, thanks.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#43

Post by avip »

mlrtime wrote: post #18

I was pretty shocked to learn that most (~80%) of the Italian extra virgin olive oil that comes into the US is neither Italian or olive oil. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-overtime-how-to-buy-...

Reading olive-oil labels is one of my hobbies. You'd find "Imported from Italy", "Packaged in Italy", "Made in Italy", and other shenanigans to imply some relation to Italy, without the burden of actually growing and pressing olives in Italy. That's the food equivalent of "Assembled in NA" labels, which vaguely implies someone tightened 4 screws in something bought elsewhere. The art of labelling!

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#45

Post by Bud »

folli wrote: post #25
choot wrote: post #20

I wonder if such bacteria can be designed in a lab. And then used to attack developing countries massive agricultural production. Let's say, china and india are growing export regions. And if American or Russian companies design a specific bacteria to target their major agricultural exports then the prices will go up due to falling supply. So is this possible? Could this be happening somewhere in the world?

It's probably easier to screen for existing bacterial strains that do such a job, instead of designing them.

Yes. About a billion times easier. Just send a few tourists in who are contaminated.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#46

Post by gdhbcc »

xbryanx wrote: post #11

Italy has a messy history listening to and even jailing its scientists, as they go about the normal process of empiricism. https://www.nature.com/news/italian-seismologists-cleared-of...

That particular example is not a good one, since the scientists should be all rights have been convicted and punished for what they did. The overturning of the sentence was a miscarriage of justice driven by public opinion and media clickbait frenzy, not the facts.

The truth of the matter is that the scientists were aware that they were in a situation of power over people, and in order to get people to stop annoying them with questions they lied and deceived people, which caused them to die.

It's ok to be wrong. It's ok to not know everything.

It is not ok to kill people by telling them that they are safe to go back to their homes when you know you have no idea, nor data to support that statement.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#47

Post by jimbokun »

chicob wrote: post #23

I'm an olive and almond producer in Portugal. In preparation for this very serious issue, since that the only thing I can do is to minimize the risk of infection, I tell all personnel to spray bleach on trimming scissors for each tree, the case of high density orchards, and for every 10-15 trees (or each row) in super high density orchards. I also try to monitor for infection vectors like Cicadellidae, and for possib…

I'm curious, what brought you to Hacker News?

It's fascinating the variety of people who contribute here, and I'm wondering what would bring a Portuguese farmer to a site centered around technology and entrepreneurship.

(I suppose I could equally ask why this site would be discussing a bacterial outbreak in Italian olive trees, and the answer could be "because it's interesting" to both questions.)

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#48

Post by woliveirajr »

In Brazil, there is some interesting story about how Cacau trees were contaminated with a plague called "vassoura de bruxa" (Crinipellis perniciosa). Many trees were found with some contaminated branches tied to them.

In portuguese there are some news (ex.: http://atarde.uol.com.br/bahia/salvador/noticias/1257586-ent...) considering that it was some kind of bioterrorism.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#49

Post by buboard »

jimbokun wrote: post #47
chicob wrote: post #23

I'm an olive and almond producer in Portugal. In preparation for this very serious issue, since that the only thing I can do is to minimize the risk of infection, I tell all personnel to spray bleach on trimming scissors for each tree, the case of high density orchards, and for every 10-15 trees (or each row) in super high density orchards. I also try to monitor for infection vectors like Cicadellidae, and for possib…

I'm curious, what brought you to Hacker News? It's fascinating the variety of people who contribute here, and I'm wondering what would bring a Portuguese farmer to a site centered around technology and entrepreneurship. (I suppose I could equally ask why this site would be discussing a bacterial outbreak in Italian olive trees, and the answer could be "because it's interesting" to both questions.)

It is not uncommon to own olive orchards in southern europe (a family thing). I have olives too.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#50

Post by jimmy1 »

mlrtime wrote: post #18

I was pretty shocked to learn that most (~80%) of the Italian extra virgin olive oil that comes into the US is neither Italian or olive oil. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-overtime-how-to-buy-...

Which is why you should purchase Extra Virgin Olive oil from Greece, directly from Greece. There is a greek food importer in almost every that has a few Greek restaurant owners where you could go and get the real stuff.

Also the irony here is that for the "premium" Italian olive oils, especially the extra virgin, most of the olives come from Greece.

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