WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating $3.5 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. Overall, USDA is providing more than $70 million in funding this year to support 383 projects in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. USDA provides this funding under the authority of the Plant Protection Act Section 7721.
“Washington has more than 35,000 farms on about 15 million acres. The State’s produces around 300 agricultural products valued at $7.9 billion. Protecting Washington’s agricultural industry is critical,” said USDA Under Secretary Greg Ibach. “These projects, will help Washington protect its resources and contribute to USDA’s mission of keeping our nation’s agriculture economy strong.”
These funds will support projects covering a range of plant health and pest mitigation activities, including:
- $1,196,727 to support National Clean Plant Network foundation plant stocks for multiple crops;
- $460,099 to support the Asian giant hornet response;
- $270,000 to survey for Asian defoliator moths;
- $150,000 to survey for stone fruit pests;
- $139,000 to support the Asian gypsy moth post-treatment response;
- $130,965 to support community outreach and education for the Asian giant hornet;
- $126,830 to support harmonizing nursery certification standards for specialty crops to safeguard nursery production and comply with new European Union regulations;
- $100,000 to survey for grape pests; and
- $100,000 to survey for forest pests.
Since 2009, USDA has supported nearly 4,400 projects and provided more than $670 million in funding. Collectively, these projects allow USDA and its partners to quickly detect and rapidly respond to invasive plant pests and diseases. They also help our country maintain the infrastructure necessary to ensure disease-free, certified planting materials are available to U.S. specialty crop producers.
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.
View the fiscal year 2021 Plant Protection Act Section 7721 spending plans on the USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service website: www.aphis.usda.gov/ppa-projects.
— USDA APHIS
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