Session Title: Boxwood Blight Research: What's the BBIG Deal?

Sunday, July 11  1:00 PM - 1:20 PM

Description:  The Boxwood Blight Insight Group (BBIG) is a team of scientists working together on an USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture – Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) project, in partnership with stakeholders and international collaborators. Learn how this transdisciplinary team aims to safeguard boxwood—the nation’s #1 evergreen ornamental shrub crop—from blight disease. 

Level: All Audiences           Type: Research




    Chuan Hong 

    Professor at Virginia Tech 

    BBIG Project Director and Professor of Plant Pathology at Virginia Tech’s Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Virginia Beach, VA, has provided leadership in the national fight against boxwood blight since 2011. He has coordinated several Farm Bill projects funded through USDA Animal and Plant Health Service. He also co-organized several national and international workshops on this emerging disease. In addition, he served on the AmericanHort’s Science Panel and spoke at its annual educational event - Cultivate’18, as well as at biennial International Boxwood Summits hosted by ABS both in 2018 and 2020. Additionally, his program is most known for contributions to the science and management of Phytophthora diseases, irrigation pathogens and recycled water quality. Chuan oversees this new project.

    Virginia Tech ... Agricultural Research and Extension Centers.  
    The Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station performs research on food and fiber systems, on their impact on the environment, and relating to the future needs of Virginia, the nation, and the world. VAES has faculty members at 11 agricultural research and Extension centers and throughout the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech.

    The sites, totaling almost 4,300 acres, represent the commonwealth’s diversity and take advantage of the unique characteristics and challenges found in each location. AREC faculty and staff members and faculty from the main campus deliver research and Extension programs at these sites. The ARECs serve not only as key field research sites, but also as field laboratories for undergraduate and graduate students and field day program sites for producers, school groups, and other citizens.

    Address:     1444 Diamond Sprinngs Rd. Virginia Beach, VA 23455
    Email:    jim.owen@vt.edu     Contact:   James Owen, PhD
    Phone:    (757) 363-3904   FAX:  (757) 363-3950


                 




               

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