There is a buzz — literally — around the new National Agriculture Genotyping Center in Fargo.

Beekeepers are sending the NAGC live bees to test to see if they have any of the viruses linked to colony collapse disorder.

That’s a big deal for beekeepers.

It’s a big deal if you grow corn, too, because the National Corn Growers Association is behind the NAGC. The corn commodity group teamed up with the Los Alamos Laboratory to create the NAGC, a high-throughput genotyping center dedicated to agriculture. The corporate office is in St. Louis, Mo., but the lab is located in the USDA Agricultural Research Service building on the North Dakota State University campus.

First commercial tests
The bee tests are the first commercial tests rolled out by the NAGC, which was established in 2015, but more are to follow.

An assay for chronic wasting disease in deer is closest to being commercialized. Rather than taking brain tissue from a dead deer, biologists will be able to take a sample from a live animal. NAGC will be able to determine if the deer is infected. Private breeders and even state wildlife agencies are hoping to be able to use the test to remove infected animals from the herds and to select animals for breeding. Healthy deer may be bred and released into the wild to increase the number of resistant animals in the gene pool.

Crop tests
Also in the research pipeline is a test for Xanthomonas in corn. It’s a virus from Africa that has shown up in Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and several other states. Yields losses have been small so far, but that could change. NAGC is developing tests for Goss’s wilt in corn; and Fusarium, phytophthora and aphid resistance in soybeans.

“The goal is to develop assays to identify plant diseases before they show symptoms,” says Megan O’Neil, NAGC lab manager. “We want to be able to get information back to farmers fast enough during the growing season so that they can take steps to prevent yield losses.”

Such capability could mean more than just being able to know whether or not to apply a fungicide. It could mean being able to save the farm. For example, citrus greening disease is wiping out whole orange groves in the U.S. There’s no way to protect or treat the trees. Farmers have to remove infected trees. But by the time one tree shows symptoms, insects may have spread the citrus greening virus through the whole grove.

Other areas where the NAGC may have an impact in the future are:

Plant breeding. The NAGC could help plant breeders by rapidly and inexpensively screening a large number of varieties for specific genetic traits. That could help maintain U.S. farmers’ edge in technology globally.

Livestock. NAGC aims to develop assays for scrapies in sheep and goats, and hoof-and-mouth disease in all three species that would allow early detection in live animals. The current inability of the U.S. to rapidly test a large number of animals for hoof-and-mouth disease is considered to be a big gap in the America’s defense against bioterrorism. It’s estimated that hoof-and-mouth disease would cost the U.S. $700 billion and destroy the livestock industry.

Food safety. Food manufacturers could do fast tests developed by NAGC to screen their products for pathogens before distributing them. Pre-shipping tests would prevent recalls that can be devastating, not just for the companies involved, but also everyone in the industry. For example, in 2006, an eight-day recall of California spinach resulted in a product loss of $37 million to $74 million. However, spinach sales nationwide dropped 20% the following year, causing a $350 million loss for the industry.

Endless possibilities
“The possibilities are endless,” says Larry Hoffmann, Wheatland, N.D., of NAGC’s work. He is the National Corn Growers Association chairman of the corn production and quality team and a member of the NAGC board of directors. “This lab will be able to do for agriculture what similar labs are doing for human health.”

That’s what the real buzz at the NAGC is about.