Cultivated plants, despite scientific progress, are paradoxically becoming more fragile and more at risk of disease than in the past: testifying to the endless waves of epidemics that are hitting our countryside and vineyards.
Owing to commonly used agronomic techniques we are undermining biodiversity and the natural resilience of our crops.
To confront costly and dangerous diseases, like epidemics, bold and innovative protection strategies are needed.
Instead of combatting the pathogen and the vector head on, this book focuses on the plant host and the real possibility of reinforcing that host through a process of induced resistance. All plants, grapevines included, like animals, learn from their “experiences” and are able to become immunized: after infection, they can become resistant to diseases and other stress factors.
This volume proposes the use of plants that are naturally immunized, those that have passed the gauntlet of Darwinian natural selection and have demonstrated stable and transmissible tolerances and resistances.

<p><strong>Ruggero Osler</strong>, has been a National Research Council (CNR) researcher at the University of Milan for the Plant Pathology Institute, a Visiting Scientist at the University of California Berkeley, and a Plant Pathology Professor at the University of Udine. He studies innovative strategies to increase resilience in cultivated plants and to contain plant epidemics.<br />He has published over 250 articles in which he proposes actionable solutions for farmers; including functional solutions for viral diseases, such as Rice Yellows; and indirect/direct Recovery techniques against bacteria called phytoplasmas that cause Apple Proliferation, ESFY (European Stone Fruit Yellows), and Flavescence Dorée of the grapevine.<br />He began his viticulture research in sanitary clonal selections, and then subsequently opted to focus on population selections, ultimately concentrating on the fittest grapevines, produced by Darwianian natural selection, those with effective transgenerational acquired/induced resistances and tolerances.</p>