Linda Presley
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Trump and Netanyahu meet at the White House
Inside, Dr Landa and her team keep a collection of deadly strains of the Xylella microbe.
Global News Podcast
Trump and Netanyahu meet at the White House
And the big fear, of course, especially here in Andalusia, is the olive industry.
Global News Podcast
Trump and Netanyahu meet at the White House
Xylella kills slowly, clogging the vessels through which a plant absorbs water. And the only way it spreads is through insect vectors. They feed on an infected tree, then carry the microbes to the next tree they land on. It's believed Xylella first arrived in Europe in ornamental coffee plants from Latin America.
Global News Podcast
Trump and Netanyahu meet at the White House
Dr Landa remembers her first sight of the havoc wreaked by the killer bacterium when she visited southern Italy in 2014.
Global News Podcast
Trump and Netanyahu meet at the White House
The dying trees generated conspiracy theories. Scientists, an oil pipeline, large companies, even the mafia, all of them were blamed for the demise of countless olive groves. Farmers were distraught, chaining themselves to their ancient diseased trees to prevent the environmental authorities from removing them, the only way to counter Xylella.
Global News Podcast
Trump and Netanyahu meet at the White House
Italy's lost more than 20 million olive trees to Xylella. Part of the end game would be to develop olive varieties resistant to Xylella.
Global News Podcast
Trump and Netanyahu meet at the White House
And then there are efforts to attack Xylella itself.
Global News Podcast
Trump and Netanyahu meet at the White House
I asked Dr Landa if the gravity of her research project gives her sleepless nights.
Global News Podcast
Trump and Netanyahu meet at the White House
So is it a question of when, not if, in terms of the olives in southern Spain?