As a result of the 2015 Cooperative Agreement Program, USDA-APHIS designated funds for the start-up of the National Clean Plant Network for Sweetpotatoes (NCPN-SP). This annual grant process is made possible by the Farm Bill, which currently budgets $5M to be shared among the seven current specialty crops. The inaugural meeting of the Tier 2 Governing Body was held in Winnsboro, LA in conjunction with an LSU AgCenter field day in August. NCPN-SP held a workshop hosted by Dr. Jorge Abad and staff of the USDA-APHIS Plant Germplasm Quarantine Program in Beltsville, Maryland in September 2015. Representatives from each of six sweetpotato centers as well as from USDA labs were able to see cutting-edge facilities and programs for virus detection and elimination for sweetpotato. The group developed the first target list of viruses for sweet potato and agreed on protocols for indexing for these viruses that will be followed in each center.\
For more information contact Dianne Coats dianne_coats@ncsu.edu