Being the best at helping folks grow healthy crops and great-looking front-yard flowers doesn’t often come with fanfare.
The University of Florida’s Plant Diagnostic Center, however, received welcome acknowledgement as the first university-based lab in the nation to earn accreditation from the National Plant Diagnostic Network — a recognition the network said is akin to a “gold star for quality” in the field of plant health.
“I am so proud of the work that we do here,” Carrie Harmon, the director of the center, said. “We work really hard to serve our clients, all the citizens in Florida who have a plant issue. So what it means to me to be accredited is that we're actually doing the right thing — we’re doing a really good job.”
A plant diagnostic center works like a doctor's office for sick plants. Growers send in samples of the ailing plant, and scientists get to work to figure out whether the culprit is a disease, insect, nutrient shortage, or environmental damage.
Once the culprit is identified, the scientists send back a prescription of sorts that tells the farmer or homeowner what to do to heal the flora, which may be as simple as changing a pesticide, the watering schedule, or trimming more or less.
National accreditation means outside experts check up on the facility and its methods on a regular basis. They can suggest better ways to do the work. The thinking is the oversight, which is welcome by centers like UF’s, will result in faster turnaround times with fewer errors.
“We are proud that our plant diagnostic center has a major role to play in protecting crop security,” Mathews Paret, chair of the plant pathology department at UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, said. It “is indeed highly relevant to national security.”
UF’s Plant Diagnostic Center has six affiliated sites throughout the state.
Stephanie Shea, manager of the accreditation program at the Northeast Plant Diagnostic Network, said UF’s plant center stood out, in part, because its pathologists use the most appropriate science, consistently and carefully.
“Accreditation signifies a gold star for quality,” Shea said. “It means a lab has proven it follows strict rules and high standards, so everyone can trust the results” and the certification “shows it’s ready to catch plant problems quickly and accurately before they spread and cause big trouble.”
Harmon, director of the center, said there is a mantra in the lab.
“Get it right — every sample, every time.”
To find the contact information for your local UF extension office, click here.
Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by Volo Foundation, a nonprofit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
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