Plant apocalypse: how new diseases are destroying trees and crops in the EU

Tthe plants slowly suffocate, wither and dry up. They die en masse, the leaves drop and the bark turns gray, creating a sea of monochrome. Since scientists first discovered Xylella fastidiosa in 2013 in Puglia, Italy, killing a third of the region's 60 million olive trees – which once produced nearly half of Italy's olive oil – many of which were centuries old. Farms stopped producing, olive mills went bankrupt and tourists avoided the area. Without a known cure, the bacterium has already caused damage worth approximately 1 billion euros. (from Agostino Petroni and Regina Winter Poulsen in Puglia, more at theguardian.com)