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Plant Diseases That Threaten U.S. Agriculture
Identified and Prepared For Under the

National Plant Disease Recovery System

The National Plant Disease Recovery System (NPDRS) is called for in Homeland Security Presidential Directive Number 9 (HSPD-9) which was issued in February of 2004.   The purpose of the NPDRS is to ensure that the tools, infrastructure, communication networks, and capacity required to mitigate the impact of high consequence plant disease outbreaks are such that a reasonable level of crop production is maintained in the U.S.

Each recovery plan listed below is intended to provide a brief primer on a threatening disease, assess the status of critical recovery components, and identify disease management strategies including research, extension, and education priorities. These recovery plans are not intended to be stand-alone documents that address all of the many and varied aspects of a plant disease outbreak and all of the decisions that must be made and actions taken to achieve effective response and recovery.   They are, however, documents that will help USDA and others stakeholders guide efforts directed toward preparation for and recovery from new plant diseases in the U.S.

The plans are a cooperative effort of university, industry, and government scientists sponsored by the American Phytopathological Society (APS) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  The pathogens discussed in these plans have been nominated as critical threats to U.S. agricultural production and reviewed at annual workshops of APS and USDA held in April of 2006, April of 2007, October of 2008, March of 2011, and April 2013.  The content and recommendations of those meetings including presentations and relevant NPDRS activities can be viewed at:

Two overriding concerns discussed at workshops and meetings are how to approach with an array of documented and ever increasing list of exotic diseases and pests that may enter the United States and how to prepare for those threats that are yet unknown.

One such approach is the development of generic recovery plans that will cover groups of pathogens and pests based on a core set of common attributes. These generic recovery plans would account for all types of pathogens that could arrive or emerge and would serve as the templates to which agent-specific and system-relevant information could be added to optimize the utility of the plan.

 When a new pathogen is detected, one of the generic plans could be used to quickly assemble a new, agent-specific recovery plan. How many and what types of generic recovery plans are needed will be determined and validated.

The existing list of NPDRS recovery plans provides a good starting point. Future APS/USDA workshops and NPDRS meetings at the APS Annual Meetings are planned to resolve this issue and to develop new plans and to update completed recovery plans.

In 2016, a feature article titled 'The Evolution of a Process for Selecting and Prioritizing Plant Diseases for Recovery Plans' was published by an organized team of plant pathologists that developed the concept of generic recovery plan templates for groups of pathogens and diseases with similar biological characteristics and disease management approaches.

At the last NPDRS Meeting on 2 August 2 2015 in Pasadena, CA, Guidelines for Updating Recovery Plans was discussed and proposed to be implemented by lead authors.

Funds are allocated for ARS scientists to conduct research on new and emerging diseases that are relevant to NPDRS activities. Each year there is a call for proposals. Proposals are evaluated by a committee to fund these projects.

Please direct any questions or comments concerning NPDRS to Tim Widmer.