Reviewing the Importance of International Year of Plant Health

Feb 09, 2021

The United Nations declared 2020 and 2021 the International Years of Plant Health. This initiative promotes the value of our precious plant resources and the need to safeguard them against destructive invasive pests. The February 7th Sustainable, Secure Food Blog highlights how the United States Department of Agriculture's Plant Protection and Quarantine Program plays a key role in the fight against pests.

According to blogger Osama El-Lissy, “protecting plants helps the U.N. to meet many of its sustainable development goals. These include reducing hunger, poverty, and threats to the environment. Today, our life-sustaining plants face an ever-growing threat: invasive pests.”

USDA’s Plant Protection and Quarantine Program partners with state departments of agriculture and many other organizations in the U.S. and around the world. The program actively seeks to prevent pests and diseases. Some of these activities include inspecting produce and plants, certifying foreign facilities that produce a large-volume of U.S.-bound commodities, and collaborating with countries to establish science-based plant health standards.

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Video: EP 73 Diversity is Resiliency – Stories of Regeneration Part 6

During the growing season of 2023 as summer turned into fall, the Rural Routes to Climate Solutions podcast and Regeneration Canada were on the final leg of the Stories of Regeneration tour. After covering most of the Prairies and most of central and eastern Canada in the summer, our months-long journey came to an end in Canada’s two most western provinces around harvest time.

This next phase of our journey brought us to Cawston, British Columbia, acclaimed as the Organic Farming Capital of Canada. At Snowy Mountain Farms, managed by Aaron Goddard and his family, you will find a 12-acre farm that boasts over 70 varieties of fruits such as cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, pears, apples, and quince. Aaron employs regenerative agriculture practices to cultivate and sustain living soils, which are essential for producing fruit that is not only delicious but also rich in nutrients.