Texas A&M Held Workshop on Building Sustainable Seed Health Testing Capacity

On April 29-30, Texas A&M University’s Department of Plant Pathology & Microbiology held a workshop targeting National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN) labs to encourage the increase of labs that can offer seed testing services and serve as potential surge labs for seed related incidences for USDA-APHIS. This workshop was attended by diagnosticians from seven NPDN labs that intend to introduce some form of seed testing services in the near future. Main topics of focus included cost recovery efforts, availability of testing protocols, QA/QC, as well as the desired roles of NPDN member labs collaborative efforts to ensure proficient and quality services while maintaining the lab’s capability in responding to emergent situations. The basis of this workshop was on the experience of the Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab’s rapid response to ToBRFV testing needs.  

*This workshop was made possible with a grant from the USDA-APHIS PPA 7721: Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention Program (FY24 AP24PPQS&T00C086).