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WITH THE KILLERS hiding in the trees, heat-sensing drones are launched into the air. When their whereabouts are narrowed, the dogs are sent in. When it comes to protecting the world’s supply of guacamole, no weapon can be spared.
On subtropical farmland in South Florida, researchers are doing battle with the deadly fungus, laurel wilt, which is spread by a tiny beetle and has the potential to decimate Florida’s avocado crop. The hashtag they have adopted for their mission: #savetheguac.
“This is probably the biggest threat to the Florida avocado that’s ever been seen” said Jonathan H. Crane, a tropical fruit crop specialist at the University of Florida.
Laurel wilt is spread by the ambrosia beetle, an invasive species from Asia. It first appeared in the US in Georgia in 2002, and has spread around the Southeast, mostly in redbay laurel trees. Avocados are in the same laurel tree family, and once infected by the fungus the tree can be dead within six weeks.
Researchers and farmers are fighting to halt the fungus before it advances to California, where the avocado is king.
Avocados are Florida’s second-biggest fruit crop, behind citrus. The larger, smooth-skinned avocados in the Sunshine State differ from the smaller, rough-rined California Haas avocados. California produces nearly 90% of the nation’s avocado crop and it’s worth about $400 million (€367 million) annually — which is why it’s essential to stop laurel wilt’s spread.
Deep in Miami-Dade County’s southern agricultural enclaves, researchers are testing methods to do just that. Florida avocados are harvested beginning in early June.
On a recent day, scientists from Florida International University and the University of Florida, along with the owners of a drone company and a canine detection team converged on a ranch under a blistering sun.
Part of the challenge of fighting laurel wilt is that by the time a farmer sees evidence of the disease — thin, hair-like prongs sticking out from tree trunks and limbs that are really the sawdust residue left behind by the burrowing beetle — it’s too late to save the tree. But if farmers can catch the disease in its infancy, before symptoms emerge, there’s hope of saving the tree with fungicide.
The first step is finding which part of the grove is infected. That’s where the drone comes in. According to Ty Rozier, owner of Elevated Horizons, a Miami-based drone company, the vehicle carries a thermal digital imaging camera as it soars over the groves in lawnmower patterns.
Researchers analyse the images and videos to find the stressed trees. Then, they send in the dogs.
“It’s almost like cancer detection,” said Ken Furton, an FIU provost and professor of chemistry. “Multiple dogs have alerted on (infected) trees that show no signs of infection.”
The dogs currently used are two Belgian Malinois and two shelter dogs.
Once the dogs key in on an infected tree, farmers can remove and burn it, then inject nearby trees with fungicide in hopes of saving them or staving off the disease.
It’s too costly to try to eradicate the ambrosia beetle, said Crane. The beetle works quickly, sometimes moving 50 to 80 kilometres a day through redbay laurel trees. Those varieties are found in Texas and “from there it’s not a stretch to California or Mexico”, Crane said. It’s impossible to stop in those wild trees, but farmers must try to contain the disease in the avocado crops. He said;
You can see the potential ecologic and economic devastation.
Since first detected on the edge of Miami’s western suburbs in 2011, laurel wilt has killed swamp bay trees scattered across 330,000 acres of the Everglades. Hundreds of millions of redbay trees have succumbed across six Southeastern states since 2002.
And some avocado trees in Florida have been felled as well. About a mile from where researchers were testing the drones and dogs, acres of sick avocado trees were spindly, brown and dead. One researcher said it was likely the farmer couldn’t afford to rip up and burn the trees, or treat the healthier ones.
This two-pronged detection system of drones and dogs could be adapted to other crop diseases, such as citrus greening, Furton said.
A $148,000 (€135,000) state grant is funding the study involving the drones and dogs.
“Florida’s warm climate makes our state a hotbed for invasive species and diseases,” said Adam Putnam, Florida’s agriculture commissioner.
Florida’s avocado industry has a $64 million economic impact in our state, and we will continue to aggressively protect our agriculture industry with cutting-edge research and technology.
So as if we dont have enough trouble with home grown crime we import Nigerians and Morroccans to compund the issue. Just so the bleeding heart lefties can virtue signal to the world about how we take in “refugees”.
Stopping this influx would be a big help in reducing crime in Ireland.
@james o reilly: you think Nigerians and morocans are responsible for most of the crime in ireland?
@james o reilly: Trump and brexit voter me thinks there now luv.
@joe o hare: “reducing crime” he said. And he has a point. Unless we adopt a strict screening policy and only allow in educated people we are open to letting in those who live via crime.
@james o reilly: “lefties” the new buzzword to be used to sound intelligent. Oh dear
@james o reilly: you are a disgusting disgrace…..
@joe o hare: how do we have Nigerian and Moroccan gangs in the first place?
@Cathal S Byrne: Anyone that came in to this country and are involved in serious crime must be shown the door immediately.
@joe o hare: Read the article and then read what James wrote. He said we have enough criminals of our own. He didn’t say the Nigerians etc were responsible for all the crime. One foreign criminal is adding to our own home grown criminals.
@Joe O’riordan: you are a dishonest dunce.
@james o reilly: and there’s people who say that immigrants have no initiative and all lazy workshy godless or incorrect god worshipping parasites. I mean we had no crime before these immigrants turned up. We certainly didnt export our criminals globally. Id far more worried about ineffective policing of criminals no matter where they come from and lack of a working credit system.
@james o reilly:
You do know where these refugees are largely fleeing from? If you don’t consider the Islamic world to be one homogenous blob, you might be interested to know Rabat is circa 1,500km closer to Dublin than it is to Damascus.
Regarding the gangs, I suspect poverty is the bigger cause at play here, but all the same, people found guilty of criminal behaviour should be sent back.
@Joe O’riordan: No Joe you and your likes are a disgusting disgrace! open you f@€#ing eyes and ears and be aware of
What’s happening to this country
I’m thinking is this a Waterford Whispers story. On another point, the article say’s ,the gardai told the local councilor, he was a legitimate target for the gang???. How can a law abiding citizen be a legitimate target for murder??
@Joe O’riordan: why! he is stating a fact! we have no links with Africa north or south yet we have criminal gangs including eastern European gangs and professional beggars! and yes we have our home grown filth, but i be if we where to try and get the individuals out of our country the bleed hearts and lefties would be the first to protest!! lock them up and kick the all out!
@Stephen Finn: This is only the start. Frances Fitzgerald and Catherine Zappone are determined to bring in as many immigrants from the Middle East as they can – at huge expense because we have to pay for their housing, living costs etc. Some of those guys will want to make real money, cue gang land warfare as Middle East gangs fight Nigerian gangs and Irish gangs for control of the drug trade.
@james o reilly: deport them all
Well thank God for our local gardai. ..sorry Nigerian drug gangs.you couldn’t make it up.
@Raymond Power: a guy from the congo i know said it is very easy to do all kinds of manipulations with documentation for social welfare etc as they all look the same to us.
How are these Nigerians getting into the bloody country? Asylum seekers are now setting up drug gangs and we are just taking more in hand over fist. Fast forward 10 years…..can you imagine the state of this country? Not a “let them all in” liberal will be found then, spouting down to us from their ivory towers. Multiculturalism forced on the people by these clowns that wouldn’t around and live with the consequences.
@Darren Mccarthy: #Won’t be#
@Darren Mccarthy: Multiculturalism is an abject failure and should be resisted by all. Everywhere it’s been tried places unnecessary challenges on the social cohesion of the society in question. Open border cheerleaders will leave this country in a far worse state for generations to come.
Sounds like those Nigerians have taken up our culture very well!!
@john doe: our culture? What part of this article relates to Irish culture exactly?
@Darren Mccarthy: Franny Fitz bestows citizenship on them in the convention centre . This then allows them to bring their families ,who in turn Franny gives citizenship too. Some of those will have other family members who Franny will encourage them to come. In the next few months to a year, Franny will be living on her overbloated pension in the leafy avenues of Rathgar and will never see any of her new arrivals, There’ll be no direct provision centre opened there.
@Darren Mccarthy: Seems the Nigerian gang sorted out the problem for these people though. It’s not uncommon for people to move to other countries to start building a criminal business. They may even have clean records before they get there. The Italian, Irish, Swedes etc all did it in at the US.
One thing that annoys me about your post is as a liberal I would be in favour of full background checks being carried on people move to Ireland. I don’t think our system is all that onerous as it currently stands.
Mutilations, forced prostitution, people chained to trees,beatings, drug dealing, money laundering. Is this actually happening or am I reading excerpts from some movie like Gangs of New York or The Godfather.I just wish there was much tougher sanctions on these thugs.
@patjoe: Was any of these horrendous punishments reported on the news? First i’ve heard of it. Seems odd.
It seems the author if this article has a lot of inside information. Have you reported any of your investigative findings to the Gardaí Garreth?
@Martin Flood: All this stuff is quite well known locally. The problem is proving it in court. People won’t testify due to the threats, as mentioned in the article. It’s one thing having the Gardai aware, it’s another getting a conviction. “Tell the Gardai” isn’t the end of a process.
They obviously didn’t want to get into a gang war with the IRA
@cholly appleseed: nobody is blaming the Nigerians, they done the people a favour, one which the gardai were unable to or had no desire to.
@Martin Flood: ouch… threaten his reputation and livelihood.. defamatory speculation. Professional journalism involves digging out info that isn’t normally readily available to the general public. Why do we have journal commentors targeting the journalists career every so often. Sometimes I wonder if it’s just other freelance journalists sniping working journalists cuz it’s impossible to make a regular living. It’s not in accordance to the topics of the articles. It turns the focus to targeting the journalist on a personal level…and that’s just pants.
@joe o hare,I am sure the locals are delighted with the Nigerian gangsters who run the drugs and prostitution rings in the southeast helping them out by supplying drugs to local thugs.
@joe o hare: really?? So the locals are happy that bigger more dangerous criminals helped them out. I don’t think so
@cholly appleseed: The article seems to suggest so.
@joe o hare: The gang that is reportedly into prostitution & drug dealing djd people a favour? You’re also conveniently leaving out the part where gardaí convicted two men of making threats to kill, so they’re obviously doing something.
Shocked and stunned again , Nigerian and Arab criminals in our midst and here I was believing the Irish Times and the lefty levies about all the cultural enrichment they could bring to our little Island ,
Hardly believable that this is going on in our rural town’s and is it stoppable
@FlopFlipU: Ireland has no backbone when it comes to these matters, mainly the problem of rubbish parents producing feral kids, and inept judges who won’t sentence accordingly.
Show your kids love and educate them, they won’t grow up to be thugs.
@FlopFlipU: Waterford is not rural. It is actually Irelands Oldest City!
@Raymond Power:
“The gang started using moneylending as their primary source of income in 2011 – moving away from drugs. They knew that if they increased the interest rates dramatically then it would be nearly impossible to pay off.”
So no different from the Troika.
I live in Waterford.
The place is gone to the dogs. To be honest I was thinking of moving back to the Bronx for a bit of peace and quiet. At least you could walk down the street without getting hassled there. And you could keep a gun in the house to deal with any idiot who thought it was a good idea to enter illegally.
I believe you share a house with Cal, Tom, Tommy, Daniel etc. I hope the rent allowance covers all of you.
@Jack Cassady: aww we’ll miss you. Bye!!!!!!
@Deborah Behan: I’m sure the journal is accessible in “the bronx”.
@Eamonn Sheen:
Thanks for explaining the internet to Debs there Eamonn.
Government announcement that all who are currently residing in this country must present themselves to a state agency with their passport to receive an identification card by December 2019
Those without this card by January 2020 or fail to produce it within 10 days after inspection are deported as an illegal alien .
So Oila Doida Mobubu of the Nigerian gang is booted out head first .
I highly doubt the guards told him he was a ‘legitimate’ target.
@Avina Laaf: that’s what I thought, then the more you here about the gardai you never know, why aren’t they coming down hard on these gangs.
@Avina Laaf: A legitimate target? Haven’t heard that phrase since the RA used it to justify murder. Interesting choice of phrase.
@Cian O Donoghue:
But he’s a SF councillor – nothing to do with the RA. Right?
@Avina Laaf: Right. Nothing. At. All.
@Avina Laaf: he was under protection all uve read is true and also a lot worse
The Provo’s were great with dealing with this kind of crime in the past in Cork. Let the Nigerians wipe them out.
@why not: They had this idea that they were the only ones who should be extorting money from people & never liked the competition.
It’s very odd that while all this mayhem was going on there wasn’t a word of it in the news or on Facebook. I’d have thought people having fingers chopped off would rate at least a mention in some news media outlet.
This article seems to be just “stirring it”, imo. I’m sure there were plenty of violent debt payment enforcers back in the 60s and 70s when we were virtually a 100% homogeneously white Irish society.
@Mary Kavanagh: it was in the news. everyone in Waterford knows which gang this article is referring to.
@Mary Kavanagh: people lost fingers eyes beating houses burned down threats it’s all in the news real news get off Facebook into the real world
It’s funny, I got the same email
Fair play to very brave Councillor John Hearne of Sinn Fein at least he is getting stuck in dealing with dangerous thugs and facing down real live threats. i’m no supporter of SF but credit where credit is due.John Hearne should be elected as a TD soon in Waterford as i’m sure all the current TDs etc from the locality are sitting back now to collect their pensions as Leo is in and the status quo will not be disturbed.
i worked with a guy from the Congo he didnt trust Nigerians!!
“The gang started using moneylending as their primary source of income in 2011 – moving away from drugs. They knew that if they increased the interest rates dramatically then it would be nearly impossible to pay off.’
No different from the Troika so.
Name these parasites so the rest of us NOT in the know, know who they are.
@Jack Cassady: Unreal, the article says Gardai raided a halting site. 20 year old with a 2 week old baby has her car attacked with a petrol bomb outside her house….
@gregory:
Believe me, everything stated in this article is true.
And more besides, much more.
@Science of beer: Google Mongo Stokes.
@Jack Cassady: Yep. Absolutely true. Mongo and his band of merry men are dirt.
My word Gareth proof read your articles before putting them out.
The last two paragraphs look like they were written by a drunk toddler.
@Rock Stoneballs: curious, drunken toddler or drunk toddler?
@gregory: A curious drunken toddler or a drunken toddler! Or maybe both?
MAD ! Mutually Assured Destruction ! Let them at it !
It’s happened in the USA and it’s happened in the U.K. and unfortunately it’s happening in Ireland
No control whatsoever on who is entering the country’ no background checks ‘ no garda presence in our airports or ferry ports ‘ we look at the news every night and there is an rise of Immigrant crime ‘ what do we do….welcome them with open arms and the dogooders in Ireland who are mainly bored people or ex teachers will tut tut tut when it all explodes in our faces…..and watch that space it will’ and the dogooders will say it’s somehow the Irish people’s fault for not embracing the culture of those people and intragrating them into our society
B@ll@ocks
Just google “Mongo Stokes” to see how bad these guys are. He already got a hiding from the bikers.
@Cathal Brugha: thanks for the link. After reading the newspaper articles. The guy seems to enjoy some Garda protection with witnesses being turned away and a lack of convictions from the courts .
Well we can`t say we weren`t warned. If and when they are convicted they must be deported.
The Nigerian princess want s her money back
I take any news like this with a pinch of salt… but I do find in every society there’s good and bad eggs. You need to be tough imo. multiculturalism yes, but be firm .
@Steve Toner: why multiculturalism yes?
Pure dirt … and the police are doing what ???? Oh we will get back to you ,,,, these gangs and drugs are destroying families every single muppet who sells of threatens a person should be brought out and beaten within an inch of there life…..
Isn’t Waterford a county in Kilkenny????
Ruhama have this linked from their twitter as justification for their ongoing persecution of sex workers. So, just for them:
* A lot of women sell sex to pay off all kinds of debt that *THEY HAVE NO OTHER WAY TO PAY* prosecute their clients and they have no way to pay at all, so BAD STUFF HAPPENS
* A lot of women sell sex rather than resort to illegal moneylenders. Prosecute their clients and they have not alternative to illegal moneylenders left, so BAD STUFF HAPPENS.
All of the above has been confirmed over and over again by Ruhama affiliated research since the 1990s…yet knowing that they threw everything ate doing the harm anyway, and throw their (now vast) resources at gloating over the harm they have done since.
May God forgive them, for I cannot.
Look on the bright side, the Nigerians actually stopped these idiots from continuing their reign of terror, also people need to remember that if you willingly take drugs then you should be able to deal with the consequences, drugs are not free.
There is a God after all…
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