Extension
The Cooperative Extension plant pathology program at the University of Florida maintains a dynamic and contemporary profile in containing the wide variety of plant pathogens existing on the state's many crops. Programs relate to agronomic crops, vegetable crops, ornamentals, turf, fruit crops, and mushroom culture. As it is common in Florida to have several plant disease epidemics in progress every month of the year, extension plant pathology programs are flexible enough to adjust to sudden outbreaks such as soybean stem canker, blue mold of tobacco, whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses, and tomato spotted wilt virus.
Extension faculty provide the public with information on crop production and crop quality, and give recommendations for plant disease control--all in direct cooperation with county extension faculty and extension specialists in other departments. Information is made available through publications, software documents, field demonstrations and tests, meetings, mass media, on-site visits, and classroom lectures.
Collective programs emphasize early diagnosis of problems coupled with the integration of non-chemical and chemical disease control tactics into a system that is compatible with production. Extension faculty also conduct research, most of which is mission-oriented, and supervise graduate students.
Extension Faculty