Mission:
The U. S. Vegetable Laboratory at Charleston, SC conducts research to solve region-wide and national problems in the production and protection of vegetable crops. This research is conducted in close cooperation with the 13 southeastern agricultural experiment stations. The mission of the laboratory is: a) to improve genetic populations of vegetable crops by combining resistance to diseases and pests (nematodes, insects, and weeds) with favored quality characters and improved yield potentials; and b) to develop knowledge on disease and pest biology, ecology, and epidemiology that can be used as a basis for the development and implementation of new, reliable, environmentally sound integrated management systems that rely on host resistance, biocontrol, and natural compounds rather than conventional pesticides.