A $450,000 grant to create a national online training program in crop biosecurity has been jointly awarded to Kansas State University Research and Extension, the University of Florida Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences, and North Carolina State University. The training will be geared for first detectors – those people most likely to notice a problem first, such as crop advisors and county Extension agents.

The grant, awarded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CRSEES), will be used to train members of the agricultural industry and land- grant university system to play a pivotal role in helping prevent and minimize crop bioterrorism, said Kathy Wright, distance education specialist with K-State's Information and Education Technology unit.

The effort will build on the success of the National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN), a national network of plant pathogen and pest detection activities in which K-State is a key component.

"We will work with an array of partners throughout the country to design and deliver an efficient and effective technology-based program that will train first detectors to identify and report," Wright said.

An act of bioterrorism within U.S. agriculture would lead to a cascade of negative consequences, including financial impacts on farmers, shippers, distributors and retailers, she said. Crop bioterrorism also could lead to higher prices and undermine consumer confidence in the safety of the food supply. The threat of crop bioterrorism is relatively new, and the United States is vulnerable because it lacks the national infrastructure necessary to quickly detect, diagnose and limit attacks.

Other directors of the project are Gerald Holmes of North Carolina State University's Department of Plant Pathology and Howard Beck, professor of agricultural engineering at the University of Florida.