[00:00.000]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.830]this is the Agriculture Report.
[00:05.980]Insects and diseases that attack food crops
[00:09.910]are moving as risen temperatures
[00:13.080]bring changes to the environment.
[00:16.010]Plant diseases alone destroy an estimated
[00:20.240]10 to 16 percent of the world's crops in the field,
[00:25.220]experts say, plant diseases destroy
[00:28.710]another 6 to 12 percent after harvest.
[00:33.190]A new study examines the movement of crop pests and diseases,
[00:39.120]and how it will effect agricultural production worldwide.
[00:44.400]Dan Bebber is a senior research fellow
[00:47.980]at the University of Exeter in Britain.
[00:51.210]He says research has shown
[00:53.750]that wild plants and animals are moving
[00:57.590]toward Earth's North and South poles as the planet warms.
[01:03.020]Mr Bebber wanted to know if the samething was happening
[01:07.810]with organisms that attack agricultural crops.
[01:12.090]He examined reports of first sightings of new insects
[01:17.770]and diseases around the world.
[01:20.310]The records came from CABI
[01:23.450]- the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International.
[01:27.640]He says the group began collecting information
[01:32.020]from developing and industrialized countries years ago.
[01:36.760]Dan Bebber and his research team studied 612 different organisms
[01:43.080]- from viruses and bacteria to insects like beetles and butterflies.
[01:50.600]They found that since 1960, crop pests and diseases
[01:57.380]have been moving toward the poles
[02:00.020]at an average rate of about 3 kilometers each year.
[02:04.150]Mr Bebber says this puts
[02:07.440]the most productive farmland in the world in danger.
[02:11.970]"As new species of pests and diseases evolve
[02:16.760]and potentially the environment for them
[02:20.740]becomes more amenable at higher latitudes,
[02:24.420]the pressure on the breadbaskets of the world is going to increase."
[02:30.010]Farmers face other threats.
[02:32.400]Invasive species passed through trade are also causing problems.
[02:38.390]Gene Kritsky is an Entomologist
[02:42.020]at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Ohio.
[02:46.060]He specialises in the study of insects.
[02:50.140]He says climate change may improve conditions for some invasive species.
[02:57.620]"It means that species in other parts of the world
[03:00.530]that might do well in warmer temperatures
[03:02.050]can now do well in the breadbasket of America."
[03:04.340]Another Entomologist Christian Krupke of Purdue University says
[03:10.570]the effects of these changes will depend very much on the crop,
[03:15.950]the insect and the disease.
[03:19.540]But he says the research is a warning sign
[03:23.770]that people should care about climate change
[03:27.260]and do something about it.
[03:30.100]And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English.