Modeling plant disease spread via high-resolution human mobility networks

This research project uses data from OnSide, an agritech company with biosecurity technology covering more than 20,000 properties from multiple industries across several countries, including New Zealand and Australia. We use the data provided by Onside for the horticulture industry in New Zealand to create high-resolution yearly, seasonal, and monthly mobility networks for 2022. We link different properties if at least one movement exists between them in a defined time period. We then leverage a Susceptible-Infected metapopulation model to describe plant disease dynamics and calibrate the model to replicate the timing and severity of a past outbreak of Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa-V).