HOLIDAY HOURS UPDATE

Customer Care will be closed the following days for the upcoming holidays:

  • Thanksgiving – November 27-29 (Wed-Fri)
  • Christmas – December 23-26 (Mon-Thurs)
  • New Years – January 1 (Wed)

NOTE: There will be limited staffing throughout the holidays as our students and staff will be taking time off to spend with their families to celebrate the season. You may notice slight delays in test results.

Testing Increase for Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens pv. flaccumfaciens (CFF)

Our Seed Health Coordinator has been fielding many questions recently regarding testing for Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens pv. flaccumfaciens (CFF) in beans. CFF causes bacterial wilt of dry beans, garden beans, soybeans, cowpeas, and other legumes in the bean family (Fabaceae). You may occasionally see it listed under an old name of Corynebacterium flaccumfaciens.

Why the sudden increase?

  • Bacterial wilt was detected in Switzerland and in the Netherlands within the past year, and linked to the import of U.S.-origin bean seed. The Netherlands, and other EU Member States, recently notified USDA-APHIS that they will soon begin testing all seed lots upon entry. However, if seed was previously tested by a U.S. National Seed Health System approved lab, they do not plan to re-test.

What should you do as an exporter?

  • It is recommended that exporters test seed before export to any EU Member State to avoid possible rejection or long delays. As of now, the two beans on the list are Phaseolus vulgaris (common bean) and Phaseolus coccineus (runner bean). Soybeans are not currently on the required testing list but we are not certain about their future. At ISU, we have tried to align with the Dutch testing method, 5,000 seeds in subsets of 1000, and dilution plating onto agar media. We expect testing to take 10-12 days. Follow-up PCR testing of suspect bacterial colonies would add 1-2 days.

Stop by Booth #38 at ASTA Field Crop

Representatives from the Seed Science Center, Seed Laboratory, Customer Care Staff, and the Seed Technology and Business Graduate Program will be on hand to answer questions. We would love the opportunity to chat with you!