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Source: USDA, 1/5/21
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating more than $70 million to support 383 projects under the Plant Protection Act’s Section 7721 program to strengthen the nation’s infrastructure for pest detection and surveillance, identification, threat mitigation, to safeguard the nursery production system and to respond to plant pest emergencies. Universities, states, federal agencies,
nongovernmental organizations, nonprofits, and Tribal organizations will carry
out selected projects in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto
Rico.“State governments, academic institutions, and other essential cooperators across the country use these USDA funds to protect American crops and natural resources and ensure the marketability of our agricultural products across the globe,” said Greg Ibach, Under Secretary for USDA’s Marketing and Regulatory Programs. The fiscal year 2021 project list includes 29 projects funded
through the National Clean Plant Network (NCPN). The NCPN helps our country
maintain the infrastructure necessary to ensure that pathogen-free,
disease-free and pest-free certified planting materials for fruit trees,
grapes, berries, citrus, hops, sweet potatoes, and roses are available to U.S.
specialty crop producers. Since 2009, USDA has supported more than 4,400 projects and
provided nearly $670 million in funding through the Plant Pest and Disease
Management and Disaster Prevention Program. Collectively, these projects allow
USDA and its partners to quickly detect and rapidly respond to invasive plant
pests and diseases. In FY 2021, funded projects include, among others: =
Asian giant hornet
research and eradication efforts: $944,116 in Washington and other states; =
Exotic fruit fly survey
and detection: $5,575,000 in Florida and California; =
Agriculture detector dog
teams: $4,287,097 to programs in California, Florida, and nationally to support
detector dog teams; =
Honey bee and pollinator
health: $1,337,819 to protect honey bees, bumble bees and other important
pollinators from harmful pests; =
Biosecurity: $1,339,183 to
Texas to monitor for pests in agricultural shipments at ports of entry; =
Stone fruit and orchard
commodities: $1,158,000 to support pest detection surveys in 10 states
including New York and Pennsylvania; =
Forest pests: $876,485 for
various detection tools, control methods development, or outreach to protect
forests from harmful pests in 16 states, including Arkansas, Indiana, South
Carolina, and New Hampshire; =
Phytophthora ramorum (sudden oak death
pathogen) and related species: $513,497 in 14 states and nationally for survey,
diagnostics, mitigation, probability modeling, genetic analysis, and outreach; =
Solanaceous plants
(including the tomato commodity): $434,000 to support surveys in 13 states
including Texas, Mississippi, and South Carolina. USDA will use $14 million to rapidly respond to invasive pest
emergencies should a pest of high economic consequence be found in the United
States. In the past, USDA has used these funds to rapidly respond to pests such
as grasshoppers, Mormon crickets, the Asian giant hornet, coconut rhinoceros
beetle, exotic fruit flies, and the spotted lanternfly. As the United States and the world recognize the International Year of Plant Health through June 2021, this funding highlights USDA’s continued commitment to safeguarding our agricultural resources for current and future generations. Learn more about the Plant Protection Act, Section 7721 on the
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) website: www.aphis.usda.gov/ppa-projects.
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