The U.S. Department of Agriculture is allocating $1.9 million to Washington state as part of its effort to strengthen the nation’s infrastructure for pest detection and surveillance, identification and threat mitigation and to safeguard the U.S. nursery production system, according to a news release.
“Washington is a critical partner in protecting U.S. agriculture,” said Greg Ibach, USDA undersecretary. “Through these projects, Washington will be able to better protect its own resources and contribute to USDA’s mission of keeping our nation’s agriculture economy healthy and strong.”
According to the release, these funds will support projects covering a range of plant health and pest mitigation activities, including the following:
—$1,232,010 to support National Clean Plant Network foundation plant stocks for multiple crops.
—$380,035 for Asian gypsy moth eradication and response.
—$270,000 to survey for Asian defoliator moths.
—$168,940 to assess the presence of nematodes that transmit nepovirus.
—$164,418 to improve risk modeling and monitoring for invasive fruit pests.
—$150,000 to survey for stone fruit pests.
—$145,083 to support the activities of the Western states’ lepidoptera diagnostic center.
—$100,000 to survey for grape pests.
—$100,000 to survey for forest pests.
Overall, USDA is providing almost $70 million in funding this year to support 386 projects in 48 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico, according to the release. USDA provides this funding under the authority of the Plant Protection Act’s Section 7721.
Since 2009, USDA has supported more than 4,000 projects and provided nearly $600 million in funding through the Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention Program.
You can view the fiscal year 2020 Plant Protection Act Section 7721 spending plans on the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) website at aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth/ppa-ppdmdpp.
—by Jonelle Mejica
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