The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating more than $1.2 million to Pennsylvania from Section 7721 of the Plant Protection Act 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 372 projects in 49 states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. USDA provides this funding under the authority of the Plant Protection Act Section 7721.
“Pennsylvania farms span more than 7.3 million acres and the state’s agricultural industry supports more than 593,000 jobs. In total, production agriculture and agribusiness contributes nearly $133 billion to Pennsylvania's economy. Protecting Pennsylvania’s agricultural industry is critical,” said USDA Under Secretary Jenny Moffitt. “These projects will help Pennsylvania protect its resources and contribute to keeping our nation’s agricultural economy strong.”
These funds will support projects covering a range of plant health and pest mitigation activities, including, but not limited to:
- $382,035 for spotted lanternfly (SLF) outreach and education to raise public awareness about the pest in the state;
- $278,458 to improve detection and suppression of SLF, develop interactive online mapping technology to track SLF movement, and to support the training and maintenance of SLF regulatory canine teams;
- $99,339 to develop CRISPR technology for the detection of Ralstonia solanacearum (race 3 biovar 2) at U.S. ports of entry;
- $99,927 to improve field deployable technologies capable of diagnosing citrus greening (Huanglongbing); and
- $80,000 to support orchard surveys in the state.
View the fiscal year 2022 Plant Protection Act’s Section 7721 spending plans on the USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service website: www.aphis.usda.gov/ppa-projects.
