b'The International Year of Plant Health 2020 is a opportunity to raise global awareness on how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect biodiversity and the environment, and boost economic development.materials available for restoring andissues, Greene says. Genetic supporting strong ecosystems. uniformity directly impacts plant SOS has grown to include ahealth; in that it creates plant health variety of partners such as botani- vulnerability. As we restore land-cal gardens, zoos, and municipali- scapes impacted by natural disas-ties. However, SOS teams share aters, we need to focus on ensuring common protocol and coordinategenetic diversity is present, not seed collecting and species target- only plant species diversity, but ing efforts. genetic diversity within a single Leah Prescott, SOS nationalspecies.curator, says the program has now trained over 2,000 interns and oftenPlant Health Prioritieshas more than 50 teams collectingAlligator juniper seed from the Desert Botanical Garden. Plant health is at the center of all seeds within a calendar year. these efforts, not just for food crops, We have a target species listbut also the overall ecosystem.template for our teams to use, andWheeler says it isnt just plant we ask them to aim for at leasthealth that must be considered, 10,000 seeds to go into long-termbut soil health too. storage with the ARS, but anythingWe will get better at manag-they can get above that goal caning ecosystems as a whole, and be used for restoration, Prescottinnovating to generate increased says. Some teams are working onplant health less from add-ons a specific restoration project andsuch as nutrients and more from aim for 70,000 seeds, but manythe biology happening beneath the are working on smaller researchsurface, Wheeler says.efforts and aim for 12,000-15,000. Philipp Simon, USDA-ARS Its important that teams collectresearch lead and professor at the seeds evenly and randomly, withUniversity of Wisconsin under-no more than 20% of the originalstands that unhealthy plants have population used for collectionminimal value in agriculture.in order to preserve the originalAshley Taylor collects white prairie clover at GalisteoPlant health is the leading criti-populations. Basin Preserve in Galisteo, New Mexico.cal variable wherein success must Once seeds are collected, theybe achieved, he says. Without are cleaned at the USDA Forestplant health, little else matters if Services Bend Seed Extractory inagriculture is to continue to play its Oregon, and then sent to variouscritical role to meet the needs of storage locations, including thefuture generations.U.S. National Plant GermplasmSimon has been working for System (NPGS). The NPGS freelymany years to improve fresh market distributes small amounts of seedcarrots, targeting flavor, nutritional to researchers. quality, disease and abiotic stress The reason we do this, is toresistance, specifically in regard provide a reservoir of diversityto soil salinity, as well as genetic for breeders to find novel traits.mapping. As a plant breeder and Diversity is being lost, not only cropgeneticist, Simon says anticipating diversity as we modernize, butwhat ecosystem changes will most wild diversity is being impacted byeffect growers in the future is key to urbanization, changing climates,improving plant health.invasive species; our seed collec- We have to aggressively do tions conserve this diversity andfield and lab research, and field make it available for use- thatsSeed collected by AK930 at the Alaska Plant Materialstrials, to speed up the breeding one waywe are working to solveCenter. effort in improving the crop, carrots FEBRUARY 2020SEEDWORLD.COM /9'