By Annie Harvieux with Pablo Olivera
It’s often said that plant diseases know no national borders. To do good on this truism, though, plant health researchers need to make a conscious effort to share information and resources with researchers and growers in other locations. UMN-PLPA’s Research Associate Professor Pablo Olivera Firpo is a strong cultivator of these relationships in his work on stem rust, with professional connections in Ethiopia, Kenya, Spain, and his home country of Uruguay, among other places.
Pablo’s most recent trip to Kenya, in which he spent 13 days in Nakuru and Njoro, was no exception—this trip of under two weeks included participating in trainings and meetings, as well as presentations and rust resistance evaluations.
At the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) in Njoro, Pablo visited the international nursery and evaluated 3,000 spring and winter wheat and barley cultivars and breeding lines for resistance to stem rust.
Pablo also participated as a resource person in “Enhancing Wheat Disease Early Warning and Advisory Systems, Germplasm Screening and Evaluations,” a training course offered to 27 wheat scientists from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Pakistan. This included presenting three lectures and leading hands-on activities for participants to do stem rust race analysis and field and seedling phenotyping.
Time collaborating with international colleagues was a key part of this trip, including two days of working together on the International Project on Rust Surveillance and Disease Early Warning Advisory System (DEWAS), which Pablo has been involved in for the past two years.
“I always love visiting Africa,” Pablo Olivera Firpo reflects upon returning. Beyond the ample plant health-related work, Pablo made time on his day off to visit Lake Nakuru National Park. “There are few things more enjoyable than a sunrise in Africa spotting wildlife in their natural habitat.”
