RustWatch is a stakeholder driven H2020 initiative developing a European early-warning system for rust diseases, which is a major challenge for plant health in Europe. Plant health is a key component for achieving the goals of the EU ‘farm-to-fork’ strategy of reducing 50% of pesticide use and a goal of 25 % of total farmland used for organic farming by 2030. The project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement 773311), engaging 12 universities/research institutes, 5 agricultural advisory services, and 7 SMEs/industries in Europe. RustWatch is based on intensified collaboration between beneficiaries within plant pathology, plant breeding, agronomy, agro-chemistry, molecular genetics and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
A core activity is to provide a better understanding of pathogen biology by faster and more efficient diagnostic methods to detect new rust races and genotypes, which enables us to investigate pathogen population changes, including potential exotic incursions of rust strains into Europe, and to study the role of pathogen aggressiveness, temperature adaptation, and Berberis spp. as sexual host as driver of evolution. This has been possible by strengthening the collaboration among European rust diagnostic laboratories, e.g. new procedures for alignment of experimental procedures and interpretation of results, and exchange and compilation of genotypic and phenotypic data using the facilities provided by the WheatRustToolbox.