Researchers use Science of Light to Reduce Pesticides used to Protect Crops from Pests and Diseases

Jul 28, 2022

Experts at two Midlands universities are starting a new project to develop a photonic 'nose' to monitor crops for pest infestations and plant disease.

Aston University is collaborating with Harper Adams University to research and develop technology using light to monitor crop health.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations up to 40 percent of global crop production is lost to pests annually. Each year, plant diseases cost the global economy over $220 billion, and invasive insects at least $70 billion.

The Midlands-based research will be using strawberries to test the new technology. The fruit is worth £350 million to the UK economy but it is vulnerable to potato aphid which has the potential to wipe out an annual harvest.

Currently crops are treated with pesticides, but there's increasing pressure to find alternatives due to the environmental impact.

One method is to use integrated pest management (IPM) to create an early warning system. It monitors plants for build-up of insects and diseases rather than spraying plants with chemicals, but so far it's proven unreliable and expensive.

The new project uses recent developments in photonics technology that can analyze low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by plants, which indicate their health. This is coupled with machine learning hardware which makes it practical to use artificial intelligence in commercial settings. Professor David Webb of Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies (AIPT) says that "better invertebrate pest and plant disease monitoring technologies will significantly help cut crop losses."

"However most electronic noses use electrochemical sensors, which suffer from sensitivity issues, sensor drift/aging effects and lack specificity."

"We intend to address this by building on the fast-moving technology of photonics—the science of light—whilst collaborating with scientists in other disciplines."

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Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.