The Conference on Soilborne Plant Pathogens (CSPP) is a short meeting with a long list of benefits. Started in 1954 by researchers from the University of California , it meets annually at locations in the western U.S. It has progressed into one of the best known and highly valued conferences in plant pathology. Its popularity is partly due to the relatively informal and highly interactive format that allows for provocative, short oral presentations on research and development discoveries, new or increasing disease problems, new applications, products and equipment, and other subjects, followed by questions and discussions from the audience. In some respects, it is a veritable “think tank” with immediate and long-term benefits. All participants are encouraged to present or contribute to the discussions as they choose and as time permits. Creative thinking, insights, opinions, and lots of take-home ideas abound under the special climate of the CSPP. Participants come from universities (research, teaching, extension), private industry and technical service organizations, private practice/consulting, crop production and other areas.
Students are always welcome and encouraged to participate, and many in the past have returned as practicing professionals. Students may present their work, and professors are urged to promote and facilitate student attendance at the CSPP. Many past student participants have felt they received a bonus, a veritable “course within a conference” because of the useful perspectives, knowledge, insights into plant pathology and career areas, and direct contact with diverse professionals they gained within the friendly, informal situation at the CSPP.
The CSPP is also a great networking opportunity for all involved. Early-career people and other newcomers to the science of soilborne fungal pathogens and allied diseases have a special opportunity to meet many respected workers, potential cooperators or clients, or others in this broad field of endeavor in a short time; and to be inspired and empowered by the positive and supportive, broad-based, forward-looking activities, and sharing climate at the CSPP. Department chairs, industry leaders, and other employers are asked to consider attending themselves and to encourage appropriate new faculty or staff members to attend the CSPP as an excellent way to help them quickly develop a sound, connected, resourceful and productive position in this essential, very challenging and advancing area.
In this era where there is a critical need for integrated, multi-factored approaches to management of plant diseases locally and on a global scale, the CSPP is deliberately working to meet the great challenge of networking most effectively all contributors, whether in long-established fields of science and field-level applications or in the emerging molecular and biotechnical areas, to expedite united progress on all fronts. CSPP from its start has been rooted in the field and practical solutions of the management of soilborne pathogens for the benefit of agriculture. Most of the original scientific fields are just as important- or more important- now to successful agriculture as before; but emerging scientific fields also are very important to progress. Principal keys to best progress are to achieve proper funding and much better networking of all scientific disciplines and workers contributing to short-and long-term solutions. CSPP invites all people dedicated to the study of soilborne plant pathogens as well as to developing broad-based strategies and tactics for pathogen management to attend. Come share your knowledge and wisdom with others in or outside your immediate expertise, and to look for ways to reach out and cooperate on a broader scale to increase progress and scientific discoveries for solving agricultural problems.