NPDN 2007 Meeting - Working Towards Safer Agriculture in the South: The Southern Plant Diagnostic Network 2002-2006

NPDN National Meeting 2007

Poster Abstract

Working Towards Safer Agriculture in the South: The Southern Plant Diagnostic Network 2002-2006

Authors: CARRIE L. HARMON(1), Amanda C. Hodges (2), Timur Momol (3), Howard Beck (4), Pamela D. Roberts (5), Robert J. McGovern (1)

Affiliations: (1) Department of Plant Pathology, UF, Gainesville, FL, USA; (2) Department of Entomology and Nematology, UF, Gainesville, FL, USA; (3) Department of Plant Pathology, North Florida Research and Ed. Center, Quincy, FL, USA; (4) Department of Agricultural Engineering, UF, Gainesville, FL, USA; (5) Department of Plant Pathology, Southwest Florida Research and Ed. Center, UF, Imokalee, FL, USA

The Southern Plant Diagnostic Network (SPDN) is a consortium of laboratories and extension professionals at 14 land-grant institutions in the southeast US and the Caribbean and part of the National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN). Each of the 5 NPDN regions is responsible for networking, supporting, and training diagnostic and first detector personnel in their regions, plus each region has primary responsibility for one national component. In the SPDN, this component is Training and Education of First Detectors. The southern region has a high number of new pest and pathogen introductions each year, necessitating constant communication, training and improvement of standardized diagnostic protocols, as well as improvement and standardization of sample data collection. Input from members during annual meetings, regular conference calls with committees, and email and phone communications has led to improvements in the SPDN. The SPDN has trained over 1000 First Detectors, introduced a regional website and newsletter to communicate with members and the public, and has held numerous diagnostician-level training events. The most recent improvement to the SPDN is the development of an Advisory Council. This council represents all of the personnel components that comprise the SPDN, and will be solicited for input on all matters relating to the regional network.

View Poster Back to Poster Presentations