Prof. Christos Athanassiou, Agricultural Assistant of FruitFlyNet project for the research group of the University of Thessaly (UTH), on the event of his business travel in the US, took the time to spread FruitFlyNet project overseas.

The outlines and some of the results of FruitFlyNet were presented during October 2015 at two of the major Research Centers of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Center for Grain and Animal Health Research Center in Manhattan, Kansas and the San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Services Center, in Parlier California. The audience was ARS researchers and personnel, but also University Faculty and postgraduate students.

“Given the high importance for some of the major fruit fly species in the US, the perception of the project, which is based on using traps for e-monitoring of invasive species, was very positive by US colleagues”, Athanassiou said. Also, he pointed out that “The basic idea and the technology of this project, to use practically similar devices for trapping of several species at different areas, can be definitely followed by other research groups throughout the globe, for different pest groups in different environments, in both agro-food and urban applications”.