Alicyn Smart – Executive Director, NPDN
The Communicator: Volume 6, Issue 6, June 2025
NPDN Friends,
I hope spring is treating you well and that, as we all receive an increase in samples, you are thrown some easy diagnoses such as sunscald, botrytis, and winter damage, and the equivalent of those in insects! I always appreciate these sprinkled into the more challenging samples to remind myself I know something.
As most of you have heard, NPDN’s continuation funding for next year has been approved, and everyone is working on their documents. This is a relief as we rely on these funds to carry out impactful plant diagnostics for the U.S.
At each leadership meeting, we discuss how we can support you all amidst the challenges of flat funding and uncertainty. We believe in what this organization does, and our job is to make us resilient during times like these. One of the actions we are taking is not having the national meeting that was planned for the Spring of 2026. Many universities are restricting travel, and other funding for labs and research is not as stable as it once was. Considering these realities, along with the last meeting having taken place only one and a half years ago, we decided to wait until we have a better idea of where we stand with funding. We hope to have a clearer picture in a year. The benefits of this are that you can save on the travel expenses you would have incurred to attend the Kansas meeting, and leadership can focus more energy and time on increasing NPDN’s resilience by exploring new avenues, such as cost recovery, which we set as a priority last September. We will find a way through this and again come together to share knowledge and laughs with friends.
Regarding funding, the two letters requesting $15 million be authorized in the Farm Bill for NPDN were submitted. Senators from Maine, Michigan, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Colorado signed onto Senator Gillibrand's (NY) letter, and representatives from Ohio, Texas, Arizona, Rhode Island, California, and New Jersey signed Representative Thompson's (CA) letter. These letters resulted from Neil McRoberts' efforts with these two offices, and we could not be luckier to have Neil focusing his efforts on securing NPDN's funding. Thank you, Neil, and everyone who responded to the call to action, even if it didn't result in a signature! We will keep working on it.
All my best,
Alicyn
I hope spring is treating you well and that, as we all receive an increase in samples, you are thrown some easy diagnoses such as sunscald, botrytis, and winter damage, and the equivalent of those in insects! I always appreciate these sprinkled into the more challenging samples to remind myself I know something.
As most of you have heard, NPDN’s continuation funding for next year has been approved, and everyone is working on their documents. This is a relief as we rely on these funds to carry out impactful plant diagnostics for the U.S.
At each leadership meeting, we discuss how we can support you all amidst the challenges of flat funding and uncertainty. We believe in what this organization does, and our job is to make us resilient during times like these. One of the actions we are taking is not having the national meeting that was planned for the Spring of 2026. Many universities are restricting travel, and other funding for labs and research is not as stable as it once was. Considering these realities, along with the last meeting having taken place only one and a half years ago, we decided to wait until we have a better idea of where we stand with funding. We hope to have a clearer picture in a year. The benefits of this are that you can save on the travel expenses you would have incurred to attend the Kansas meeting, and leadership can focus more energy and time on increasing NPDN’s resilience by exploring new avenues, such as cost recovery, which we set as a priority last September. We will find a way through this and again come together to share knowledge and laughs with friends.
Regarding funding, the two letters requesting $15 million be authorized in the Farm Bill for NPDN were submitted. Senators from Maine, Michigan, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Colorado signed onto Senator Gillibrand's (NY) letter, and representatives from Ohio, Texas, Arizona, Rhode Island, California, and New Jersey signed Representative Thompson's (CA) letter. These letters resulted from Neil McRoberts' efforts with these two offices, and we could not be luckier to have Neil focusing his efforts on securing NPDN's funding. Thank you, Neil, and everyone who responded to the call to action, even if it didn't result in a signature! We will keep working on it.
All my best,
Alicyn
