Scope of the Project

The NATO funded project “Tools for crop biosecurity” was designed to strengthen the cooperation among U.S., Europe and Israel in the field of crop biosecurity and to generate awareness on how the psychological, economic and cultural consequences of crop bioterrorism, especially attacks on soft targets such as crop seeds, could have a disproportional adverse effect on Mediterranean agriculture and, more generally, on society. The project permitted to strengthen a network of laboratories, expert on diagnostic, biology and epidemiology of pathogens and able to provide the tools for a quick diagnosis of new pathogens/race/biotypes, to study their biology and epidemiology and to share knowledge about innovative diagnostic tools for allowing a real time identification of dangerous plant pathogens. The project objectives were achieved throughout workshops and students researchers exchange.