Annual progress report - Cost 873
Annual progress report - Cost 873
Annual progress report - Cost 873
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Monitoring Progress Report – 2009<br />
COST <strong>873</strong> – Bacterial Diseases of Stone Fruits and Nuts<br />
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In addition a request was made in which all MC members provided a self-rating of the Action on a<br />
scale of 1=best, highly beneficial to 3=worst, highly un-useful. The response was high with over 50%<br />
of MC members responding in 2008 and 2009, giving a high rating of overall satisfaction with<br />
COST<strong>873</strong>. Highlights of COST<strong>873</strong> volunteered by respondent MC members in these surveys were:<br />
Website ease-of-navigation and content<br />
Communication<br />
Meetings, particularly the small STF meetings to generate research results<br />
Research collaborations initiation and support from COST<strong>873</strong><br />
II.C.a. Main Successes<br />
Technology and Know-How Transfer: Action <strong>873</strong> is ahead of schedule regarding the Tech Transfer<br />
workshops with the first held by the CoP in 2009. Smaller meetings with stakeholders were held in<br />
2008 and 2009. Highly-significant contacts with governmental stakeholders from the EU<br />
Commission, National Ministries and the OECD have been made regarding issues of central<br />
importance to not only COST<strong>873</strong> but European agriculture. A meeting with stakeholders was held in<br />
Brussels in 2009, and participation in the OECD biopesticides steering group was initiated in 2009.<br />
Plans are being made for an OECD-COST<strong>873</strong> joint international conference on biopesticide regulatory<br />
issues in 2010. A wide-range of industry contacts have been established from diagnostic companies,<br />
chemical/biocontrol manufacturers, precision agriculture to breeding/nursery groups.<br />
Action <strong>873</strong> is on-schedule with Disease Fact-Sheets with a task-force headed by J. Elphinstone, CSL,<br />
UK established to gather existing fact-sheets from all signatory countries for posting on an already<br />
reserved space on the Action website. A number of fact sheets in local languages have been prepared<br />
and posted online or are in final stages for publication online. COST<strong>873</strong> has already become an<br />
important resource for bacterial diseases with end-user plant inspectors, growers and scientists (e.g.,<br />
incorporated into extension training in the Netherlands).<br />
COST<strong>873</strong> has had an active and successful Training and Mobility Module. Regular training<br />
courses have received an extremely positive feedback from ESR participants as well as their<br />
mentors back home. Training materials from these courses have been published online for wider<br />
dissemination. Since the first course on classical-molecular phytobacteriology held in March 2008 at<br />
FERA, York UK, we have organized further courses in phytobacteriology (Angers FR, June 2009),<br />
walnut propagation (Murcia ES, March 2009), and pathogen genomics (Zürich CH, April 2009). These<br />
courses will remain a major focus of COST<strong>873</strong> based on participant response to those already held. We<br />
particularly are interested in arranging courses on plant resistance genetics, phytosanitary science,<br />
and science management (perhaps as a Trans-COST training course). Two courses are already<br />
planned courses for 2010: Pseudomonas classical-molecular phytobacteriology (Belgrade, April),<br />
and Xylella phytosanitary-phytobacteriology (Bari, October) training.<br />
Initial lag in COST<strong>873</strong> STSMs has been corrected, now with a high level of interest, and a high<br />
quality of training results – particularly due to the focus on linking STSMs with active COST<strong>873</strong> STF<br />
research activities. This has been due to the STF sub-group instrument, exposure via Training Courses,<br />
and extensive adverstisement (online, at meetings, and one-to-one encouragement). Many participants<br />
have volunteered that www.cost<strong>873</strong>.ch has provided a simple procedure for STSM application. In fact,<br />
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