how new diseases are destroying trees and crops in the EU

The plants slowly suffocate, wither and dry out. They die en masse, the leaves fall and the bark turns gray, creating a sea of ​​black and white. Since scientists first discovered it Xylella fastidiosa in 2013 in Puglia, Italy, it killed a third of the region's 60 million olive trees - which once produced almost half of Italy's olive oil - many of which were centuries old. Farms stopped producing, olive mills went bankrupt and tourists avoided the area. Because there is no known cure, the bacterium has already caused damage costing approximately 1 billion euros.

"Most of the territory ...