USDA Raises Stakes with $70 Million to Protect Plants

Posted by Paul Rusnak|March 2, 2020

In farming, having crop protection is priceless. This in a world where the constant battle against pests and disease can add up quickly. USDA has announced it’s allocating almost $70 million to support 386 projects under the Plant Protection Act’s Section 7721 program to strengthen the nation’s infrastructure for pest detection and surveillance, identification, and threat mitigation.

Among the FY 2020 project list are 29 projects funded through the National Clean Plant Network to provide high-quality propagated plant material for fruit trees, grapes, berries, citrus, hops, sweet potatoes, and roses free of targeted plant pathogens and pests.

According to USDA, projects will be carried out by universities, states, federal agencies, nongovernmental organizations, nonprofits, and Tribal organizations in 48 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

This year, funded projects include (among others):

Exotic fruit fly survey and detection: $5,800,000 in Florida and California
Agriculture detector dog teams: $4,124,783 to programs in California, Florida, and Guam to enhance package inspections, and training for these detector dog teams
Forest pests: $1,758,938 for various detection, methods development, or outreach to protect forests from harmful pests in 24 states including Arkansas, Indiana, North Dakota, and New Hampshire
Honey bee and pollinator health: $1,728,882 to protect honey bees, bumble bees and other important pollinators from harmful pests
Biosecurity: $1,167,022 to Texas to safeguard the border trade of agricultural shipments
Stone fruit and orchard commodities: $944,875 to support pest detection surveys in 16 states, including South Carolina and Rhode Island
Phytophthora ramorum and related species: $854,506 in 22 states and nationally for survey, diagnostics, mitigation, probability modeling, genetic analysis, and outreach
Grapes: $565,326 to enhance surveys for grape commodity pests and diseases in 17 states
Citrus: $463,280 to support citrus commodity surveys in California and Louisiana

USDA is reserving $15.5 million of the $70 million in funding to support rapid response during invasive pest emergencies should a pest of high economic consequence be found in the U.S. In the past, USDA has used these funds to rapidly respond to pests such as Giant African snail, European cherry fruit fly, coconut rhinoceros beetle, exotic fruit flies, or spotted lanternfly.