Agricultural Lab Improvement Plan

About the Program

Category: County Administration and Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

The County of San Diego Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures (AWM) improved the process used in its Plant Pest Determination Laboratory (Lab). The Lab processes plant and insect samples from county residents and the agricultural industry. Throughout 2020 and 2021, the County started a process to improve service delivery and operational efficiency, and lower costs, while protecting the health of the customers and staff during the pandemic. The improvement project also identified and established new collaborative opportunities with University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE). Our improvements achieved the following: · Identified and enhanced partnerships with the UCCE and Master Gardeners to improve options for plant pest identification and general garden and landscape technical assistance to about 80 residents in 2021 · Added two outdoor drop boxes for collection of residents’ plant pest specimens to mitigate pandemic risks · Decreased the cost of processing Lab samples by about $167,700 · Identified an opportunity for an interactive lobby display to increase public awareness of the Lab’s work. The display was installed and promoted via the department’s social media channels and linked to a demonstration garden in the County Operations Center courtyard.