USDA Provides more than $18 Million to Projects that Protect California Agriculture and Natural Resources

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating more than $18 million to California as part of a nationwide effort to strengthen the country’s infrastructure for pest detection, surveillance, and mitigation, as well as protect the U.S. nursery system. USDA is providing more than $70 million in funding this year to support 350 projects in 48 states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The Plant Protection Act Section 7721 gives USDA the authority to provide this funding.“In 2020, California agricultural exports generated more than $20 billion. The state is a leader in U.S. agricultural production. Protecting that industry is essential to maintaining a strong national agricultural economy,” said USDA Under Secretary Jenny Moffitt.These funds will support statewide projects covering a range of plant health and pest mitigation activities including, but not limited to:

• $4.5 million to survey for invasive fruit flies;
• $4 million to support agricultural detector dog teams, which search for destructive invasive plant pests in mail facilities receiving international goods;
• $3 million to support National Clean Plant Network foundation plant stocks free from economically damaging diseases;
• $2 million to support state Emergency Plant Health Response teams in managing outbreaks of exotic plant pests;
• $400,000 to survey for Asian defoliator moths;
• $217,983 to develop tools for the identification of pheromones and related attractants for invasive cerambycid beetles, which attack economically significant crops;
• $378,038 to develop technology to detect invasive downy mildews that attack grain crops;
• $350,000 to conduct surveys for stone fruit commodities; and
• $272,405 to continue developing a technology that uses x-ray imaging and artificial intelligence to detect invasive pests.

Since 2009, USDA has supported more than 5,170 projects and provided nearly $809 million in PPA 7721 funding. Collectively, these projects allow USDA and its partners to quickly detect and rapidly respond to invasive plant pests and diseases. These projects also enable our country to maintain the infrastructure necessary to ensure disease-free, certified plants are available to U.S. specialty crop producers.

View the fiscal year 2023 Plant Protection Act’s Section 7721 spending plans on the USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service website: www.aphis.usda.gov/ppa-projects.

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