One phytopathologist's growth through ipm to holistic plant health: the key to approaching genetic yield potential

I relate my becoming a phytopathologist and my very satisfying growth into and beyond IPM to holistic plant health, and puzzle over paradigms that have prevented our accepting the overwhelming logic of (a) seeking defensible disease-loss data to justify funding and guide research and management priorities, (b) managing genetic diversity to retard pathogen development, (c) conserving genetic diversity in situ, and (d) educating and training general practitioner plant doctors. These multidisciplinary health care professionals are key to overcoming sources of stress that cause major world crops to yield only 15-20% of their genetic potential, on average. Thus, plant doctors give hope for approaching attainable yield and feeding a hungry world-if, simultaneously, human population growth is reduced. The plant health movement has the potential to effect the greatest change in world agriculture since the Green Revolution, and the DPH/M to become plant agriculture's most important single degree program.