A short presentation by Erinn Campbell, PhD Student, Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, entitled 'Frank and honest'? The politics of international plant pest reporting, 1952–1994 followed by a Q&A and discussion with the speaker.
Chair: Prof John Carr, Dept of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge
Coffee Break Seminars are a relaxed learning and discussion forum for our food security community that take place every Friday in person and online during term time at 2pm, UK time.
In-person: Weston Seminar Room (2.49), David Attenborough Building
On-line: Please mail coordinator@globalfood.cam.ac.uk for the Teams link to join the meeting.
Abstract:
From 1952 to 1994, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) published the FAO Plant Protection Bulletin as an ‘official’ outlet for reporting outbreaks of plant pests and pathogens. Like other scientific serials, the Bulletin served not only as an informational service but also as a site for developing a scientific community—in this case, a global community of plant protection researchers. By promptly reporting outbreaks, these experts declared their commitment to transparency, interdisciplinarity, and transnational cooperation in the name of global food security. This, however, came at a cost: reports of serious new pests could prompt a nation's trading partners to quarantine or ban its exports. I will explore how plant protection researchers navigated this tension, balancing their own professional priorities with their nation's economic and political interests.
