Thread by @wheatpath

#Phytopathology, #wheat, #geopolitics & #Russia: a thread 🧵
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(1) China just lifts restrictions on imports of Russian wheat if used only for processing purposes. This boost to exports was agreed in a deal established... a few days before Ukraine invasion.

https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/1496745304888016898

(2) The first day of the Ukraine invasion (24 February), an analyst said that China expands market for Russian wheat was “unrelated to Ukraine situation”. Still, this perfect timing suggests that Russia has anticipated the international sanctions.
edition.cnn.com/2022/02/25/bus…

(3) This sequence perfectly illustrates the links existing between geopolitics, food security, and – more unexpectedly – plant health and phytopathology. Yet, this link is a recurrent one in our modern history.

(4) Restrictions on trade in agricultural commodities are usually applied to prevent introduction of regulated (quarantine) pests (pathogens, insects) in one agricultural region from another. To be acceptable these restrictions must be scientifically and technically justified.

(5) This is the case for Tilletia controversa, a fungal pathogen known to cause dwarf bunt of wheat, also called smut disease TCK.

(6) This disease, detrimental to wheat production but with no effect on human health, is present in many countries, notably in Central Europe and large parts of Russia.
gd.eppo.int/taxon/TILLCO/d…

(7) Import of Russian wheat was banned by China during several years, intermittently, justified by the presence of dwarf bunt in several Russian oblasts (otherwise it could be consider by @wto as an unjustified embargo).

(8) China has maintained restrictive quarantine requirements on US wheat regarding the situation of Karnal bunt (caused by Tilletia indica, another quarantine pathogen species) during several years – almost two decades – before finally lifting them.
apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/PD…

(9) Interesting to notice that in 2014, at the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, Russia used the discovery of numerous pests to justify banning imports of certain fruit and vegetables from EU and Moldova. Coincidence?
(see report #054 in www6.versailles-grignon.inrae.fr/bioger/pages-p…)

(10) Russia also used the "crop biosecurity" argument in 2016 and banned imports of fruit and vegetables from Egypt after its erratic "zero ergot" policies. Coincidence, again?
(see report #109 in www6.versailles-grignon.inrae.fr/bioger/pages-p…)

(11) However, opposite geopolicies are occurring in the case of war in Ukraine. The issue is no longer "pressure" on exporting countries in a context of opening markets (globalisation). The pressure is now on Russia exports & imports after the closure of markets due to sanctions.

(12) As a wheat pathologist I focused obviously on this crop. However, other elements points on crop biosecurity issues: restrictions on the import of tomatoes, peppers, courgettes and aubergines from many countries were just lift (5 March) by Russia.
fsvps.gov.ru/fsvps/news/477…

(13) Officially this decision was made "based on the results of the analysis of information on regionalization provided by the national organizations for quarantine and plant protection...". Scientific justifications come definitely at just the right time 👌. Coincidence, again?

(14) Several concerned countries (🇦🇲,🇦🇿,🇧🇾,🇰🇿,🇪🇬,🇰🇬,🇹🇷,🇹🇲,🇺🇿) have a geostrategic position towards Russia that is quite similar to that of China: ambiguous.

(15) So, we should be aware that world is currently in a geostrategic sequence where phytosanitary regulations can be more or less manipulated: not only over-applied as has been done in some past sequences, but also on the contrary under-applied or lightened.

(16) I do not want to developp here the issue of "agroterrorism" (nothing to do with the current situation), but using phytosanitary rules to change alliances in the agricultural commodities trade was one of the scenarios I anticipated in 2016 for this type of threat to Europe.

(17) For an analysis on this related issue you can refer to:
▪️ www6.versailles-grignon.inrae.fr/bioger/content…
▪️ researchgate.net/publication/34…
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This thread contents my own views and does not represent an official position of INRAE or any other French government agency.