(WesternFarmPress) - FAO marked the 60th anniversary of the International Plant Protection Convention, a treaty established in 1952 to help prevent plant pests and diseases from spreading across international boundaries via international trade.The origins of the convention can be traced back to 1865, when a French wine merchant imported a case of American vines infected with an alien species of aphid that nearly wiped France's wine industry off the map. Frightened Italian farmers ripped up kilometers of newly installed railroad tracks to prevent the invading pest from moving south.