About the show
Healthy plants are the foundation for life on our planet. They produce the oxygen we breathe and over 80% of the food we eat. The Plantopia podcast series explains how protecting plant health can ensure a sustainable future. Inspired by the United Nations declaration of 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health, the American Phytopathological Society created Plantopia so you can explore the world of plant health in company with plant pathologists—people on a mission to protect plants and our food supply.
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Episodes
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For the Greater Good...of Wine
October 19th, 2020 | 27 mins 44 secs
From education on the dangers of "suitcase" plant material, to creating islands of habitat for beneficial insects, to the collective agreement on a set of rules by which crops can be produced in a more sustainable fashion; it all works better when we look out for each other.
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A Distinct Amount of Human Suffering
October 5th, 2020 | 32 mins 41 secs
If you thought that human misery due to plant diseases was only from our distant past, that our technology has placed us beyond the reach of plague and famine, then you have not kept up to date on Phytopthora infestans.
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The Future Looks Bright
September 21st, 2020 | 31 mins 24 secs
We turn to photobiology for answers on how to produce healthier crops.
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What Can Plants Teach Us About Pandemics?
September 7th, 2020 | 38 mins 4 secs
Tracking, testing, and stopping viruses that would otherwise wreak havoc within a population is the everyday work for some plant pathologists.
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The Wonderful World of Worms
August 24th, 2020 | 21 mins 15 secs
Charles Darwin was fascinated by them. You should be too.
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The Adventures of Sooty Blotch & Flyspeck
August 10th, 2020 | 32 mins 8 secs
What's up with all those tiny spots on your apples?
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The Rodney Dangerfield of the Microbial World
July 27th, 2020 | 30 mins 51 secs
They are social and devious. They are far more complex, sophisticated, and organized than you might ever imagine.
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Seeds!
June 29th, 2020 | 31 mins 2 secs
Just about every plant we want to grow comes from a seed, but where do all of those seeds come from?
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Willie Nelson's Bag of Spinach
June 15th, 2020 | 35 mins 28 secs
Fresh produce tastes great and is part of a healthy diet, but we all have a part to play in the war against microbial hitchhikers...even Willie.
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Editing Plant Genes
June 1st, 2020 | 24 mins 11 secs
How revolutionary methods can be used to disarm some of the most destructive pathogens that imperil the world's food supply.
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Antibiotics, Soil Microbiome, and Biological Control
May 18th, 2020 | 29 mins 9 secs
Your backyard is full of antibiotics. What they're there doing might surprise you.
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Ants as Farmers
May 4th, 2020 | 30 mins 41 secs
They’ve been farming for a lot longer than we have, and they are really good at it.
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Arms Race Part 2: AI + Cassava
April 27th, 2020 | 27 mins 50 secs
There's a farmer walking around in a developing country applying a convolutional neural network to make decisions.
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The New American Chestnut
April 20th, 2020 | 28 mins 57 secs
This is the story of the demise of the American Chestnut and how we are poised, after a century of waiting, to see its return.
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Arms Race Part 1: Ug99
April 9th, 2020 | 32 mins 13 secs
The striking parallels between wheat rust and global human epidemics.