causes and effects of disease in ag

• Endemic diseases: consistently present in a population within a country or region
• • Exotic diseases: do not occur normally in a country or region and are often introduced from overseas
• • The interplay of 3 factors contributes to the development of an infectious disease in organisms: 
  • Host factors, e.g. susceptibility, poor nutrition, drought and heatwave stress
  • Pathogen factors e.g transmission
  • Environmental factors e.g overcrowding, lack of hygiene
• • Factors contributing to the risk of infectious disease in Australian agriculture include:
  • changing / intensifying farming practices
  • Increased mobility of human population
  • Changing patterns of language use
  • Climate change
  • Pesticide and antimicrobial resistance (e.g. antibiotics)
• • Also, plants and animal livestock have been bred selectively for particular traits and characteristics over many years. This has resulted in a loss of genetic diversity making them more susceptible to disease