Sarah Arnold

Journalist Patrick Gathara did a satirical news thread with a similar sort of vibe on the Bird Site...not sure if he is still keeping it going? Was excellent.

That resonates with me too. One reason I am not in HE any more is because I ran out of ability to give what students needed. I wanted to do right by them but systematically it felt like we had fewer resources to meet more complex needs every year.

I have free DeepL, and it's pretty good online. But I haven't found any definitive information saying the pro version works offline for speech, and at least one site suggesting it doesn't. If someone can say, "Yes, I paid, and used it for speech without internet," I'm all in but I've not found that.

Happy to pay for such a service, but I've tried about 10 apps in the last 2 weeks that all were claimed to do this, and in every case, either voice doesn't work offline, or that language pairing isn't supported for offline use.

Has anyone found an Android app that genuinely, really:
1. Provides translation of voice/speech
2. Between English and Brazilian Portuguese
3. And does this in offline mode?

Thanks to Takebayashi and Michelin fruit farms for letting me visit, and @innovateuk.bsky.social Business Connect for enabling this fact-finding trip to Brazil to learn about different elements of a diversified climate-smart agricultural system.

Argh, sorry, forgot alt-text for second image. A ripe strawberry on which a small fruit fly sits, with distinctive dark spots on the tips of its wings.

A wooden box (c. 20 x 20 x 20cm) with a plastic funnel on the front, in a wooden alcove. On close inspection, the funnel has a wax chimney coming out, and all on the chimney and edge of the funnel are lots of tiny (c. 4mm long) slender bees.

Really brilliant day visiting fruit farms in São Paulo state. Lots to think about, comparing Brazilian v. UK strawberry cultivation - diff substrates, diff pests (though did see an SWD!) & very different pollinators! Super-cute seeing strawberry flowers pollinated by stingless bees!
#Horticulture

A large (c. 12cm wingspan?) moth, mostly dark brown but with various silvery-gold iridescent patterns, a white stripe across its forewing, and a comma-shaped stigma on each forewing too. Lying dead on grass, with a human hand framing it - forewing length is nearly the same length as the human's forefinger.

In Brazil to network around future collaborative projects and dynamic agroforestry. More about that later. For now...found an impressive (sadly deceased) Ascalapha odorata aka black witch moth aka duppy bat in my hotel. Amazing.

#TropicalEntomology #Lepidoptera

Aphids in soft fruit presentation at AAB meeting on integrated pest management. Sarah Arnold speaking

Ditto with final talk #AAB_IPPM by @sejarnold.bsky.social NIAB surveying parasitoid wasp diversity on aphids from strawberry crops in Kent. 4 main species found plus hyperparasitoids. eDNA barcoding showed more. Little relationship to local vegetation. Sadly missed rest or risk missing train.

Keeping with willow-carrot aphid, Mst Atikunnaher has been screening different carrot cultivars for resistance, but the most exciting findings came from companion cropping with garlic-chives, which may offer protection to carrot crops. #AAB_IPPM

Jude Bennison (ADAS) updates us on aphids of organic celery - mostly willow-carrot. Commercial Aphidius will parasitise but be patient (14 days). Can boost numbers with banker plants! Netting hit-and-miss - damaged netting can do more harm than good. #AAB_IPPM

Amma Simon presents some work about aphids and fusarium on wheat; R. padi goes on leaves/stems, S. avenae on heads, which also can get Fusarium. Therefore, S.a. avoids Fusarium-infected wheat but R.p. does not, and can benefit from infection! #AAB_IPPM

Ilma Qonaah has been examining wheat resistance to the aphid-vectored BYDV. She compared 2 apparently resistant strains, finding one had low transmission of virus (resists fast), whereas the other had high transmission but the virus didn't replicate (resists more slowly). #AAB_IPPM

Tom Ashfield and a multidisciplinary team have been looking at using multispectral imaging to detect slugs in fields. By targeting on the areas with high slug density, the amount of product (molluscicide/nematodes) can be reduced, with economic and environmental benefits. #AAB_IPPM

Cliven Njekete has been looking at multi-target biocontrol plants - plants which use volatiles, root exudates, physical properties, banker plant properties, trap plant properties, etc. to help control multiple pests via one or more modalities. Tagetes spp. promising candidates. #AAB_IPPM

Sereene Ghariani presents work on RNAi for management of cabbage stem flea beetle - another possibility to deal with this very damaging pest. Once the tech is trialled a bit more, can it be adapted relatively easily to other beetle pests of crops? #AAB_IPPM

Amrithapriya Bindu (JIC) has been looking at Sinapis alba, as a potential source of resistance traits relevant to oilseed rape in the ongoing battle with cabbage stem flea beetle. S. alba cultivars are very variable in their palatability to CSFB adults! #AAB_IPPM

Andrew Gladman (ADAS) talks about alyssum companion planting for control of thrips - both drawing the thrips away from the crop and also boosting populations of biocontrols like Orius. Exciting potential, should be interesting to see the system getting optimised. #AAB_IPPM

On to Avice Hall, explaining how monitoring environmental conditions can reduce the number of powdery mildew sprays needed for strawberry dramatically (yes please!) and the role of silicon nutrient in cutting both powdery mildew and two-spotted spider-mite. Might need to try that myself! #AAB_IPPM

Paul Wilson starts us off with insights into productivity and sustainability in UK agriculture, and his "10 drivers of farm success" - a lot is about willingness to seek new information and look at the business case for interventions on a crop (margins v. yields). #AAB_IPPM #SustainableAgriculture

Day 2 of #AAB_IPPM meeting and today is more entomological (but not entirely!). Lots of good talks on the schedule.

#IntegratedPestManagement #IPPM #SustainableAgriculture #HorticulturalEntomology

Jonathan Jones works us through case studies of precision breeding for disease-resistant crops, enabling pesticide reduction. Highlights challenges of determining PBA-compatibility where receptor genes come from/are based on diploid crop ancestors or near relative species. #AAB_IPPM

Jim Dunwell brings us up to date with ACRE (Advisory Committee for Releases into the Environment) oversight and procedures relevant to the Precision Breeding Act - new legislation/processes to allow precision-bred crops, including with pest/pathogen resistance, to be grown in England. #AAB_IPPM

Allah Bakhsh showed us some results of dsRNA bioassays on colorado beetle - exciting prospects for control. Then Rosemary Collier discussed IPM in fresh produce, and what needs doing as more plant protection products disappear from growers' toolkit. #AAB_IPPM

Meghan England @teagasc.bsky.social has been surveying Irish farmers about their use of biocontrol/biostimulants. Many farmers have tried them somewhat, and many are positive about trying, but lack of knowledge identified as a barrier. Farmer testimonials increase uptake! #AAB_IPPM

David Cooke (Hutton) updating us on late blight in potato - 2025's dry spring meant it wasn't a bad year. Different clones of the pathogen are coming and going. A key infection source is tubers left in the ground between seasons - control your volunteers. #AAB_IPPM

Entomovectoring with @mojganrabiey.bsky.social - bumblebees can carry bacteriophages to cherry flowers, allowing control of cherry canker on flowers (and thus fruit) - bees can find the flowers better than we can to distribute the phages. #AAB_IPPM

Rosa Sanchez-Lucas explains that ash dieback severity is affected by the neighbouring trees, with some species being protective and others increasing risk of severe symptoms. Neighbouring-tree effects could have wider implications in forestry/tree crop management. #AAB_IPPM

Don Pendergast (Agrii) introduces peptide plant-elicitor - promising suggestions it can increase efficacy of fungicide control of fungal pathogens on crops, and environmentally benign - safe and novel disease management. #AAB_IPPM