Distance Diagnostics through Digital Imaging - Impacts

According to user feedback, the Distance Diagnostics Through Digital Imaging program has saved the citizens of the state of Georgia over 11 million dollars that would have been wasted due to lost crops. Additionally, the program has been credited with assisting in saving the life of a small child by quickly providing accurate plant identification of a poisonous plant. Here are just a few comments regarding the DDDI program:

Illinois Extension Distance Diagnostics 2009 Survey - Posted June 4, 2010

“Thanks to the Distance Diagnostics through Digital Imaging system ... the emerging pest, whose larvae bore into the bark of fruit trees, was prevented from establishing a new territory in Washington.” article about DDDI in WSU Today

“This upgrade is essential to help protect our valuable soybean crop.” comments about DDDI in Illinois

“...we are now responding faster than ever with answers to the many plant and pest problems that people submit to us.” article about DDDI in Illinois

“The system works great...” comments from Ben Hill County Agent

“...this system puts together expertise and technology...” Comments of Georgia Board of Regents Chairman Steven Portch

“Distance diagnostics provides a brand new way to handle old problems.” Comments of Chemical Supplier Jim Bone

“All I can say is thank goodness for digital imaging," County Agent Tim Hall regarding the use of DDDI to help save the life of a three year old boy

“The whole process took five minutes.” Another child helped by DDDI

“This really shows how valuable this equipment is.” comments from Gilmer County comments

“The knowledge that was provided all three producers was instrumental in significantly reducing crop losses, assuring minimum pesticide use and preventing negative environmental impacts.” DDDI helps reduce pine losses in Marion County

“This allows for timely diagnosis of the problem which mean a remedy can be put in place sooner, limiting potential damage.” DDDI in Illinois garners praise

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WSU Today, Wednesday, June 27, 2007
WRITER: Becky Phillips

BIOSECURITY RX - DIGITAL DIAGNOSIS IMAGES NIP PLANT DISEASE IN THE BUD

Last spring, a small, nondescript moth alighted on a family apple tree in western Washington. Before it had time to make itself at home, however, it was whisked away by a vigilant crop consultant and identified as the Cherry Bark Tortrix (Enarmonia formosana), an exotic pest which has been slowly migrating down from British Columbia.

Thanks to the Distance Diagnostics through Digital Imaging system - coordinated through the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension station – the emerging pest, whose larvae bore into the bark of fruit trees, was prevented from establishing a new territory in Washington.

Today, crops of all types across the state can benefit from speedy and accurate diagnosis of disease and pest infestations through DDDI. The Web-based service allows growers, crop advisors, county extension agents and Master Gardener plant clinics to take digital photos of diseased plants, insects or weeds and send them to evaluation sites where they are identified by experts.

“The network lets experts across the state view a single sample and reach a consensus,” said Norm Dart, WSU Puyallup Extension coordinator and manager of the DDDI system. “With many eyes looking at a single sample we get a more accurate diagnosis.”

Full text of the article can be found at:
http://www.wsutoday.wsu.edu/pages/publications.asp?Action=Detail&PublicationID=3909&PageID=63

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IDOA News, April 20, 2006
WRITERS: Jeff Squibb, Chris Herbert

IDOA, U OF I EXTENSION TO IMPROVE SURVEILLANCE FOR ASIAN SOYBEAN RUST - Upgrade of Distance Diagnostics System also will help to rapidly detect and respond to other plant diseases

DECATUR, Ill. – The Illinois Department of Agriculture and University of Illinois Extension are collaborating on a project that will improve Illinois’ ability to rapidly diagnose Asian soybean rust and other plant diseases.

The project, announced today at the Macon County Extension Office, will upgrade Extension’s Distance Diagnostics System (DDDI), an internet-based tool that enables plant pathologists at the University of Illinois in Champaign to analyze leaf samples dropped off at any of Extension’s 95 county field offices without leaving their lab.

“This upgrade is essential to help protect our valuable soybean crop,” Agriculture Director Chuck Hartke said. “Asian soybean rust is a deadly, wind-borne fungus that can cause considerable financial losses if it goes undetected. The Distance Diagnostics System gives us the ability to quickly screen suspect plants and provide an early warning to farmers if rust is ever diagnosed so they can promptly begin treating their fields.”

Full text of the article can be found at:
http://www.dddi.org/uiuc/resources/
2006%20upgrade%20IDOA%20press%20release.pdf

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ACES News, Feb 20, 2003
WRITER: Dennis Bowan

DIGITAL IMAGING SYSTEM PROVIDES ANSWERS TO PLANT PEST PROBLEMS

URBANA--For both homeowners and professionals, fast and accurate answers to most plant and pest problems are available at University of Illinois Extension offices around the state. A wide array of Extension experts are linked directly to those offices through the Distance Diagnostics System.

"Using the latest digital equipment, the staff at local offices can take high-quality images of the plant and pest problems," said Dennis Bowman, project coordinator and Crop Systems educator at the Champaign Extension Center. "The images along with information about the problem are then submitted to the appropriate experts. Last year, more than 20 percent of the samples were diagnosed within two hours of submission and nearly 75 percent within 48 hours."

Full text of the article can be found at:
http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/news/stories/news2221.html

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E-mail from a Ben Hill county agent
Date sent: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 13:43:06 -0400
Organization: Ben Hill County Extension Service
To: edbrown@uga.edu
Subject: Article

Ed,

I just read your article in Columns about the Distance Imaging system. Very good info. I have been using the cameras for a couple months now and have sent images to specialists. The system works great and we have the flexibility to use the cameras in other areas. Our local paper can read images from the disk for paper articles-works great.

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Excerpt from: Research & Extension News
June 24, 1998

Universities' Role in Farm Future Vital, Chancellor Says By Jennifer Cannon Georgia Extension Service

Portch showed particular interest in the new Distance Diagnostics Digital Imaging system. This system, installed in 31 counties during early 1998, allows county extension agents to take digital pictures of diseased plants both in the field and under a microscope.

The agents then upload the pictures to the World Wide Web. Scientists great distances away can identify the problem and make a recommendation, usually via e-mail.

"It's a reality that we can't have every specialist in every corner of the state to help farmers," Portch said. "But this system puts together expertise and technology, and this allows us to increase our service."

As an amateur farmer, Portch sees the potential value of the university's work in precision agriculture using Global Positioning System equipment. He said that's likely to have long-term impact for Georgia farmers, and for farmers all over the world who will benefit from Georgia research.

"Who would have thought, even just 25 years ago, that farmers would need technological and computer skills?" he asked. "But today, farmers almost can't live without them."

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Comments from an industrial user of DDDI
Subject: Distance Diagnostics / Digital Imaging
Author: Jim Bone at Griffin-Valdosta

Date: 8/21/98 8:44 AM

In regard to our discussion yesterday, we at Griffin L.L.C. after viewing the diagnostics system at a Tifton meeting, were very impressed and saw potential for our business. As manufacturers and sellers of generic crop protection chemicals, questions and concerns about product performance are often received. Usually the situation is resolved by telephone discussion; however, at times it takes a look at the use area. When we send a Technical Service Representative to investigate, regardless of the outcome, we spend on average about $5000 per visit considering travel, other direct expenses and employee time.

While our system does not include the features for in-depth analysis of that developed at UGA, we have already used successfully to resolve field issues. To date our use has saved us in the area of $150,000, resource which was then available for use on more profitable efforts than complaint resolution.

At present our use of distance diagnostics is limited to our Technical Service Representatives, but is seen as a powerful tool in the hands of our sales force as it increases the reach of our investigative network by 26 people. Once available it will allow salesmen to play a far broader role in the investigation of technical issues. We also see it as an exceptional learning tool, when a problem is encountered a graphic representation can be shared immediately with others who may encounter same.

Personally, I find distance diagnostics an excellent redirection tool. We seek continuos improvement in productivity and as such must constantly look for ways of funding the new through reduction of the old. Distance diagnostics provides a brand new way to handle old problems.

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News at The University of Georgia, Wednesday, June 30, 1999
WRITER: Phil Williams

FAST WORK BY UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA HERBARIUM AND DIGITAL IMAGING TECHNOLOGY HELPS IDENTIFY POISONOUS PLANT EATEN BY CHILD

ATHENS, Ga. -- A three-year-old boy in the middle-Georgia town of Fitzgerald is alive and well thanks to the quick thinking of a county extension agent, two botanists from the University of Georgia's Herbarium and a UGA College of Agriculture initiative primarily designed to save farmers millions of dollars from crop loss from plant diseases.

The child apparently ate four berries from the toxic American nightshade plant on Tuesday. When his sister told their parents, the couple, Jim and Jennifer Dennis, called the state Poison Control Center, which referred them to county extension agent Tim Hall, who took digital pictures of the plant and sent them over the Internet to the Herbarium for identification. From the time Hall sent the image to the time he had an identification in hand, less than seven minutes had elapsed.

The call was somewhat unusual for the Herbarium, which has been at the University of Georgia since 1926 and is now a part of the Georgia Museum of Natural History. Still, the rapid identification of plants is becoming more and more important for the facility, located in the Miller Plants Sciences Building, which houses some 226,000 plant specimens.

Five minutes after they first heard from Hall, acting curator Reed Crook and Patrick Sweeney, project coordinator for an in-progress vascular plant atlas of Georgia, saw the first of five digital images on their computer screens. They almost immediately identified the plant.

"I knew it was the genus Solanum americanum, which is indeed toxic," said Crook. "We subsequently checked our sources and specifically the AMA Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants and confirmed by the photo in the book that it was Solanum americanum, or the American nightshade."

The plant is a relatively common weed, though most people don't know it is poisonous or that it can even be fatal to small children. Related to the tomato and potato, the American nightshade has small, tomato-like fruits that are green at first and then turn dark blue or black as they ripen. Crook said that even green-skinned tomatoes and potatoes have very small concentrations of mildly toxic alkaloids that can cause intestinal discomfort if they are not cooked.

Crook e-mailed county agent Hall, a 24-year veteran, with the news that the plant was poisonous, and the parents then rushed the child to the hospital where he was treated and cured before the poisonous plant berries could be digested.

"We are listed as a resource with the Poison Control Center in Atlanta, and so this is a way in which county extension agents can get to us quickly," said David Giannasi, director of the Herbarium and associate professor of botany.

The equipment used by Hall to transmit the image back to the UGA scientists for analysis was made possible by the Distance Diagnostics through Digital Imaging Project, a joint venture of the plant pathology department and the Office of Information Technology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, which equips Cooperative Extension faculty across the state with computers, digital cameras and microscopes and trains extension faculty to use these tools to assess plant diseases and pest infestations.

Each year, Georgia farmers and county extension agents submit more than 4,000 diseased or pest-infested plant samples to UGA for analysis by plant pathologists. Traditionally, plant samples were mailed or hand-delivered to the plant-disease clinics for evaluation. Extension agents have been using digital imaging for long-distance diagnosis of plant disease and crop pest problems for some time, but the technology has been less used for identifying possibly poisonous plants.

"All I can say is thank goodness for digital imaging," said Hall. The child was taken to the emergency room at Dorminey Medical Center in Fitzgerald, spent the night in the hospital and was released the following day in good health.

"We can't guarantee that we can identify all of the plants sent us in this way, but there's a pretty good chance we can identify most things," said Crook. "For some plants, we might need the actual specimens, but for many common plants, this is a wonderful way to identify plants with a minimal effort."

"There is no single way to treat someone who has eaten a poisonous plant," said Crook, who just completed his doctoral degree in plant taxonomy from UGA and will be leaving soon. "Different plants have different compounds. And animals eat poisonous plants, too. In the past few days, we've worked with the School of Veterinary Medicine on identifying plants that horses and cattle have eaten."

The Herbarium has been heavily involved in identifying plants all over Georgia, and has done recent identification surveys at Fort Gordon, Fort Stewart, Stone Mountain Memorial Park and most recently, Callaway Gardens.

Giannasi said that county extension agents should remain the first line of inquiry for people wanting to know the identity of suspicious plants. But in emergency situations, the UGA Herbarium will continue to act as another line of defense against the toxins of the plant world.

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Excerpt from e-mailed "B" notes, week of July 19
Produced by Dr. Gale Buchanan, Dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at The University of Georgia

DISTANCE DIAGNOSTIC HELPS IN ANOTHER MEDICAL EMERGENCY

The parents of a small child in Evans County discovered the child had eaten leaves of an ornamental plant and came to the extension office for help in identifying the plant. The county agent was out of town, but county secretary, Yvonne Smith, used their digital camera and distance diagnostics equipment to transmit an image to Wayne McLaurin, Department of Horticulture, who identified the plant and alerted the parents to the toxicity of the leaves. The whole process took five minutes.

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Comments from Gilmer County Agent, Friday 7/30/99 to DDDI Project Manager

Julian,

I just wanted to drop you a note to tell you about a neat experience that occurred today. A lady called to ask if I could identify a plant that her child, along with a neighbors' child, had eaten the berries off of. From her description, I was not able to identify the plant. I went to her house and photographed the plant with the digital camera. When I got back to the office I was unable to find anyone in Athens, but I did find Dr Krewer in Tifton who identified the plant via the digital diagnostic through digital imaging system (sic). The plant was not poisonous. This really shows how valuable this equipment is.

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Excerpt from e-mailed "B" notes, week of September 27, 1999
Produced by Dr. Gale Buchanan, Dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at The University of Georgia

First Place Award received at the National Association of County Agricultural Agents Meeting in Omaha, NE.

Georgia Won First Place in the Education Poster Session out of 34 entries nationwide. The winning poster was "Distance Diagnostics Through Digital Imaging - An Educational Tool for County Agricultural Agents" by Ed A. Brown and Don Hamilton. An award of $500 was given to the authors which they plan to donate to the Georgia County Agricultural Agents Association Scholarship Fund.

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Comments from Jimmy Howell, CEC Marion County
Pine sawfly problem in three county pine seedling production nurseries

A pine-seedling producer recently brought to the Marion County Extension office, some caterpillars that were rapidly devouring needles of pine seedlings being produced for the Georgia forest products industry.

Digital images were made with the Sony Mavica camera and submitted with descriptive information to the U.Ga. Entomology Distance Diagnostics System. Within 15 minutes, Dr. Beverly Sparks, Extension Coordinator for Entomology, identified the insect larvae and transferred the information to Dr. H.C. Ellis, Extension Entomologist in Tifton at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Rural Development Center. Within an additional 45 minutes, Dr. Ellis had supplied the seedling producer with information about the pest and recommendations for its control. The producer not only used the information for his own operation, but also contacted the other two pine-seedling producers in the county to inform them about the insects and control procedures for them.

The knowledge that was provided all three producers was instrumental in significantly reducing crop losses, assuring minimum pesticide use and preventing negative environmental impacts. This has been another example of important support provided by the Georgia Extension Service through its County faculty and their conscientious use of available technology.

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Full text of the article can be found at:
http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/news/articles/972570318.html

Two Extension educators in the Champaign center–Dennis Bowman in crop systems and Suzanne Bissonnette in integrated pest management–were honored for their work with the Illinois Distance Diagnostics Project.

Extension has placed specialized distance diagnostics equipment in its offices around the state. As a result, images of stressed plants or insect samples can be instantly transmitted to Extension educators or campus-based specialists. This allows for timely diagnosis of the problem which mean a remedy can be put in place sooner, limiting potential damage.