Oregon Receives $2.7 Million For Pest Detection

The USDA announced Thursday that $2.7 million will go to Oregon, from the 2014 Farm Bill to improve pest detection and surveillance, to safeguard the nursery production system.  Overall, USDA is providing nearly $70 million in funding this year that will support 494 projects across the country.

“We are pleased to partner with Oregon to provide critical Farm Bill funds that will put innovative ideas into action and help us overcome our shared invasive pest and disease challenges,” said USDA Under Secretary Greg Ibach. “Oregon is a critical partner in protecting U.S. agriculture. These projects will enable Oregon to protect its own resources, and, in doing so, contribute to USDA’s mission of keeping our nation’s agriculture economy healthy and strong.”

These funds will support projects covering a range of plant health and pest mitigation activities, including the following:

• $823,000 for gypsy moth survey and response in Oregon;
• $557,000 to harmonize grapevine nursery stock certification programs in the Northwest and protect against Phytophthora species and other high-risk viruses circulating in nursery systems;
• $541,000 to manage and mitigate harmful plant pests such as invasive gastropods, potato cyst nematodes, exotic scarabs, light brown apple moth, and Phytophthora ramorum;
• $274,000 to raise awareness about the economic benefits of nursery certification programs, the “Don’t Pack a Pest” public relations campaigns, and to enlist citizen scientists to address the risk of Phytophthora ramorum in forests;
• $230,000 to survey for harmful invasive mollusks, grape commodity pests and diseases, Phytophthora species, and exotic fruit flies;
• $196,000 to assess the risk of Phytophthora ramorum spread in nursery and forest environments;
• $187,000 to support National Clean Plant Network foundation plant stocks for berries; and
• $130,000 to improve sampling and detection for Ribes germplasm for black currant reversion virus and support for the Northwestern Regional Identification Center for bark beetle and other wood-boring pests.

USDA has funded 1,849 projects with approximately $228 million in Section 10007 funding since the 2014 Farm Bill was enacted. Collectively, these projects continue to bolster our country’s safeguarding system while allowing USDA and its partners to quickly detect and rapidly respond to invasive pests and diseases.

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