Plant Health Week

Plant Health Week 2022, coordinated by Defra, will be held in the UK from Monday 9 to Sunday 15 May. It also coincides with the International Day of Plant Health on 12 May 2022 which is coordinated by FAO (UN). Both events are all about celebrating the benefits of healthy plants – to help to end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment, and boost economic development.

Here are BPD HQ we have been beavering away on our plans for marking #planthealthweek and #planthealthday. In particular we want to share how a better understanding of bacterial plant diseases can contribute to keeping plants healthy. We’ll be sharing insights from our research teams, showcasing some of our favourite plants and publishing some new blog posts. Here are some of the things you can look forward to:

• Webinar: Our main Plant Health Week event will be a webinar on Wednesday 11 May at 1pm. The topic is ‘Innovative approaches to controlling bacterial plant diseases’ and will feature some promising approaches being researched by our project teams. Find out more here.
• Plants Make Life Better: On Tuesday 10 May we’ll be encouraging everyone to post their favourite plants outside of the lab – houseplants, tasty plants, useful plants, plants in art or film – with the hashtag #PlantsMakeLifeBetter Why not join in?
• Research In Action: On Thursday 12 May, for International Plant Health Day, we’ll be asking our researchers to post on social media about what they are doing in their research to help keep plants healthy with the hashtag #HelpingKeepPlantsHealthy
• Blog Updates: We will also be sharing some new blog posts and resources with insights into the work of our research projects.

And that is just what we have planned! Many other organisations including RHS, Tree Council, Kew Gardens, Woodland Trust and the Linnean Society are getting involved too. A highlight will be the FAO’s celebratory webinar on Thursday 12 May at 12.30pm (UK time). You can register for free here. Otherwise keep an eye on social media, particularly #planthealthweek and #planthealthday and do join in!