Pistachio farmers expected an impressive crop this season. All signs pointed to success, most of all a remarkable show of flowers on pistachio trees in the preceding autumn. But it was not to be. Half of the crops were dead on arrival, decimated by a fungal infection known as anthracnose. What’s worse, most of the surviving crops were found to be heavily infected – in other words, unsellable. So what happened?
According to New Scientist magazine, even the fact that pistachios were affected by this fungal infection at all is strange. Anthracnose is said to rarely affect pistachios, usually settling in softer targets like olives, strawberries, and mangoes. The infection leads to black lesions and quickly leads fruit to rot. The loss to farmers in Australia was massive, with some losing entire harvests.
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On the other hand, Scot Nelson, a plant pathologist with the University of Hawaii, suggests that a mutation of the fungus allowed it to quickly make the leap from other crops to pistachios. Thanks to the similar genetic makeup of all pistachio trees, Nelson noted, it was then easy for the fungus to spread quickly.
According to Wired, this isn’t the only instance of fungal pests wreaking havoc – the magazine points to a rise in wheat rust and another mutant fungus that is currently threatening the very existence of bananas. But while it may not be new, bigger and worse outbreaks mean it’s certainly a problem that producers will need to watch out ever closer from now on.
