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National Plant Diagnostic Network: Protecting America’s Agriculture
The Role of Regulatory Agencies and crop consultants
P.B. Goodell, UCIPM, Kearney Agricultural Center
Carla Thomas, Deputy Director, Western Plant Diagnostic Network, UC Davis
R. M. Bostock, Director, Western Plant Diagnostic Network, UC Davis
Following the attacks on September 11, 2001, America’s attention and resources were refocused on homeland security. While emphasizing the security of structures such as buildings, dams, power plants and bridges, Congress also recognized the vulnerability of our agriculture industry. On June 12, 2002, the President signed into law the Agricultural Bioterrorrism Protection Act of 2002. The Act covers both animal and plant production and directed the Secretary of Agriculture to develop a network linking plant and animal disease diagnostic facilities across the country. The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) established the Animal & Plant Disease and Pest Surveillance & Detection Network. The National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN) focuses on the plant disease and pest aspects of the program.
According to the Network’s website ( its mission is:
“…to enhance national agricultural security by quickly detecting introduced pests and pathogens. This will be achieved by creating a functional nationwide network of public agricultural institutions with a cohesive, distributed system to quickly detect deliberately introduced, high consequence, biological pests and pathogens into our agricultural and natural ecosystems by providing means for quick identifications and establishing protocols for immediate reporting to appropriate responders and decision makers. The network will allow Land Grant University diagnosticians and faculty, State Regulatory personnel, and first detectors to efficiently communicate information, images, and methods of detection throughout the system in a timely manner.”
What Role do PCAs Play in Bio-ag Security?
We are looking for PCA’s and CCA’s, trained in agriculture, who can work with county ag commissioners and county extension staff to be watchful for new pest, disease and weed outbreaks. These individuals constitute an important group of volunteers that increase the number of eyes in our fields, orchards, vineyards, and glasshouses. PCAs and CCAs regularly cover a great proportion of our agricultural and horticultural resources and are ideally placed to be watchful while scouting for the usual pests and diseases.
If an unusual event is detected, these First Detectors can assist in notifying or collecting samples for county ag commissioner and extension staff, who will send the appropriate samples on to a lab for diagnosis. These First Detectors will be registered and may be contacted to be watchful for certain organisms, should a biosecurity event be detected nearby.
First Detectors are not considered substitutes or replacements for surveillance programs conducted by CDFA, APHIS/PPQ and the local County Agricultural Commissioner offices. First Detectors might be thought of as a “Neighborhood Watch” program for agriculture. When a suspect event occurs, the plant health regulatory agencies are immediately notified to confirm and if required, respond to that event.
The Network
The Network is comprised of LandGrantUniversity plant disease and pest diagnostic facilities across the United States. Lead universities have been selected and designated as Regional Centers to represent five regions across the country. These Centers are located at Cornell University (Northeastern region), Michigan State University (North Central region), Kansas State University (Great Plains region), University of Florida at Gainesville (Southern region), and University of California at Davis (Western region).
The National Agricultural Pest Information System (NAPIS), located at PurdueUniversity, has been designated as the central repository for archiving selected diagnostic data collected from the regions. The establishment of the Network will provide the means necessary for ensuring that all participating LandGrantUniversity and State Department of Agriculture diagnostic facilities are alerted to possible outbreaks and introductions, and are technologically equipped to rapidly detect and identify pests and pathogens.
California’s diverse agricultural enterprise falls within the jurisdiction of the Western Plant Diagnostic Network (WPDN), coordinated by Dr. Richard Bostock, Chair of the Department of Plant Pathology, UC Davis, and Carla Thomas, Deputy Director of the WPDN. The primary functions of the Network are:
Assisting in detecting new pest outbreaks
Diagnosing the problem(s) and keeping CDFA and County Ag commissioners informed
Informing first responders of the select agents or other agents of concern.
Communicating diagnostic results through the national Network
Analyzing the outbreak pattern
PCAs can help protect our agricultural assets by acting as First Detectors and providing a higher level of alertness on our agricultural resources and to quickly bring unusual events to the attention of the plant health regulatory agencies.
Detection of New Pest Threats– PCAs and CAPCA on the Front Line
The Plant Diagnostic Network plays a supportive role to the PCA. Already, PCA’s and CCA’s play the major role in discovering pest problems in California’s agricultural environment. Your shadows are cast on most of the acres of cropland, orchards, vineyards and nurseries on a regular basis. When new problems arise, it is usually first detected by PCA’s and CCA’s, who bring it to the attention ofCounty Agricultural Commissioners or County Farm Advisors
The new focus on bio-ag security will not diminish that role. PCAs as First Detectors cover a lot of ground and see a wide range of crops. Because of your professionalism, you are aware of new pests, problems and abnormalities. You are also more likely to know what is normal for an area and what is not, for any time of year and crop that you monitor.
Currently, when a PCA or CCA brings a problem to a county agricultural office and a County Ag Commissioner or Farm Advisor may recognize the problem and provide management solutions through Cooperative Extension. If the sample is determinedto require further identification or diagnosis, it will properly packed and shipped to a UC campus expert or the California Department of Agriculture (CDFA) diagnostic lab in Sacramento. This process will not change, but should be enhanced with improved diagnosis capacity and communication.
What is a First Detector?
A First Detector is anyone who has completed a short course and self-registered. The course consists of several hours of training including:
- Background and understanding of the mission of the Plant Diagnostic Network
- Proper handling and submission of samples
- Identification and monitoring of “select agents”. Select agents are pests and pathogens deemed important to agriculture (see side bar)
- Art & science of plant diagnosis
The importance for training First Detectors is twofold: first, it ensures minimal qualifications for a national standard, and second, it provides the opportunity to be listed on a national registry. This registry will be used to notify First Detectors to be alert for the appearance of select agents should a biosecurity event occur.
Training for First Detectors will be offered through CAPCA’s education program with your local chapter during the fall and winter of 2004-05. The training will qualify for continuing education credits. Please contact your local chapter or visit the CAPCA website for schedules. You’ll learn more about some particularly high risk pests, that are not here now, but are very likely to arrive in our state in the near future and also have an opportunity to participate in practice drills or exercises in detecting these agents of concern.
Enhancing the Diagnostic Capacity
From a biosecurity point of view, new pest introductions should be contained as soon as possible, regardless whether intentionally or accidentally introduced. California faces the introduction of exotic species almost every day, and the Network can help improve our state’s diagnostic capacity as well as helping to emphasize vigilance. The diagnostic network in California consists of UC labs and expertise and the CDFA diagnostic lab in Sacramento. The CDFA lab also serves as the NPDN Western Regional Center Lab and will accept samples from other network diagnostic labs in the region.
The bulk of funding provided in the past year has gone to improve the diagnostic labs with equipment and training. One goal of the Network is to provide standardized quality among the regional labs and among the satellite labs that feed into the regional labs. The regional diagnostic labs can forward samples suspected of being select agents or other agents of concern to other labs with specific expertise. This will greatly speed up our ability to rapidly receive answers on diagnostic sample submissions. In some regions, there has been an emphasis on Distance Aided Diagnosis. This includes support in digital photography (both field and microscopic), and communication networks which allow real-time conferencing with appropriate experts.
The key to staying aware of potentially threatening pest outbreaks is in communicating and sharing results. The Network is establishing exchanges that ensure timely and secure data transmissions between RegionalCenters and the National Agricultural Pest Information System (NAPIS), located at PurdueUniversity. The Regional Centers will see all data coming from all labs in the region and will be able to see multiple events simultaneously. The Centers have direct access to the NPDN national database, housed at NAPIS, for rapid pattern detection. This same analysis tool can be used by regulatory agencies for response planning and forensics, if required.
One advantage of having centralized data is the ability to see trends, develop hypotheses about outbreaks, and predict future occurrences. Data of interest to the analysts include geographic spread, host and pest/disease relationships, timing of outbreaks, associated weather data, and topography. This part of the Network’s mission is perhaps the most difficult, but when it is fully implemented, will be a great aid in preventing or ameliorating future outbreaks.
Be Watchful
As a regulatory agency staff professional, you are more likely to recognize something unusual in your area. You know who is a stranger and who is familiar, where tanks are likely to be kept and where they are not. What common field operations are normal and which ones look strange. If you see something that seems unusual, please take the time to ask questions or bring the unusual occurrence to someone’s attention that has the authority to act. Whether it is gasoline or fertilizer theft, crop duster flight patterns, sick plants or animals or suspicious persons, or something unusual about an important water way or drinking source, think twice before passing by and forgetting about what you saw. Your attention to detail could save significant economic loss to yourself and your clients and possible risk to the health and welfare of your community.
The National Animal Health Laboratory Network
A sister program, the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, addresses similar health risks for animals. The University of California’s Veterinary Diagnostic Clinic is a participant and hub for that program. If you encounter seriously ill or dying animals and livestock, you should contactyour local veterinarian or county ag commissioner’s office.
Summary
The National Plant Diagnostic Network was established to improve the security of our food and fiber production systems. The success of the Network will be to prevent outbreaks of new diseases, arthropods or weeds, whether intentionally or unintentionally introduced. County Ag Commissioner, APHIS and CDFA staff as well as CAPCA members as PCA’s play a pivotal role in this national security program. We invite you to participate in training, become First Detectors and to engage in the deployment of the Network to your clientele. By your early assistance in the detection of major outbreaks, You are helping to insure the economic stability and sustainability of the agricultural industry.
For more information, please contact your local CAPCA Chapter, farm advisor, county ag commissioner, or the Western Plant Diagnostic Network (
Dr. Rick Bostock, DirectorRichard Hoenisch, Training Coordinator
Western Plant Diagnostic NetworkWestern Plant Diagnostic Network
Department of Plant PathologyDepartment of Plant Pathology
University of California,DavisUniversity of California, Davis
530-752-4269530-754-2255
Carla Thomas, Deputy Director
Western Plant Diagnostic Network
Department of Plant Pathology
University of California, Davis
530-304-0689
Dr. Umesh Kodira
Branch Chief
CDFAPlantPestDiagnosticCenter
3294 Meadowview Road
Sacramento, CA 95832-1448
916-262-1104