Press

What is FD Finder?

FD Finder is a free shared platform for working together against grapevine flavescence dorée (FD). The disease, classed as a quarantine pest, spreads fast and cannot be cured: an infected vine has to be grubbed up. Legislation is necessary, but on its own it cannot stop it – only the whole sector together can curb it, at every level.

For that it provides shared knowledge and tools: the free FD Finder Expert knowledge base (the FD literature in one place), the Good practices (what was done elsewhere in Europe, what worked and what did not), the monthly Phytoplasma Risk Index with a European country map, and in season community pre-screening: a user photographs a suspicious vine, and the other members of the community indicate whether it is worth a closer look.

The submitted data also serve research and AI development that support recognition; the protocol-based surveys of authorised surveyors are the part of the research dataset that is most valuable professionally.

What FD Finder does not do

• It does not diagnose. The community assessment is pre-screening, not a laboratory test, and it does not determine whether a disease is present.
• Not an official notification. A submission does not replace the statutory plant-health duty to notify.
• It makes no official decision, and does not replace a plant-health specialist or a research institute.

A technology and community project

FD Finder is the initiative of a vine grower and winemaker, and it is built with an AI-supported development method: the development and the professional and communication background work are assisted by AI-based team members, but the goals and the release of every new version are set and approved by the initiator.

An important distinction: the AI works in development. Today, the submitted photos are assessed not by AI but by the community; and determining whether the disease is present remains a matter for experts and laboratories. Meet the team

Phytoplasma Risk Index (FKI)

An expert estimate, updated monthly – not official data – of where the control of grapevine flavescence dorée stands in Hungary. The methodology and every score from every scorer are public: worth checking before you quote it.

• Current value: 68% (2026 preliminary)
• Every score from every scorer: 2026 preliminary
• Methodology in detail

Press summary

On one page: what FD Finder is, who it is for, what it offers, what it does not do, status, contact. You can read it without registering.

Open the press summary

Press pack – available immediately after registration

The full press pack and the initiator’s direct contact details open up immediately after a single short registration. No waiting, no call-back: right after registering you can read and arrange an interview.

What the pack contains:

• Press summary on one page – what FD Finder is, for whom, what it offers, what it does not do.
• Six press releases with different focuses: professional, smallholder, general public, technology, news, and the winter one: knowledge and cooperation.
• ‘About FD Finder’ – the boilerplate paragraph in three lengths.
• An introduction to the initiator and his quotable sentences.
• Interview questions and answers – the common and the sensitive questions.
• Background material for journalists – the disease and what is at stake, the community loop in detail, the reviewer exam, data protection, the role of AI, the team and the working method.
• Facts and figures – the figures for the product, the disease and the project, with source and date.
• Glossary – twenty terms in brief.
• Images: logo, screenshots, portrait, field photos.

Interview and background briefing

The initiator is happy to be available for an in-person or phone interview, a background briefing or a professional conversation – about the disease, the state of the vine-growing sector and how the initiative was built. You’ll receive his direct email address and phone number immediately after press registration; press relations are handled by the initiator personally.