A global surveillance system for crop diseases: Global preparedness minimizes the risk to food supplies

To satisfy growing demand for food, global agricultural production must in-crease by 70% by 2050. However, pests and crop diseases put global food supplies at risk. Worldwide, yield losses caused by pests and diseases are estimated to aver-age 21.5% in wheat, 30.0% in rice, 22.6% in maize, 17.2% in potato, and 21.4% in soybean [1]; these crops account for half of the global human calorie intake [2]. Climate change and global trade drive the distribution, host range, and impact of plant diseases [3], many of which can spread or re-emerge after having been under control [4] (see photo). Though many national and regional plant protec-tion organizations (NPPOs and RPPOs) work to monitor and contain crop disease outbreaks, many countries, particularly low-income countries (LIC) do not effi-ciently exchange information, delaying coordinated responses to prevent disease establishment and spread. To improve re-sponses to unexpected crop disease spread, we propose a Global Surveillance System (GSS) that will extend and adapt established biosecurity practices and networking facilities into LIC, enabling countries and regions to quickly respond to emerging disease outbreaks to stabilize food supplies, enhancing global food pro-tection.