Senate Appropriations Committee Approves FY 2003 Agriculture Legislation

Senate Appropriations Committee Approves FY 2003
Agriculture Legislation
July 25, 2002

Washington, DC -- U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced today that the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved funding for a number of important California agricultural priorities including helping to assist growers in the fight against exotic pests such as the Mexican Fruit Fly and the Glassy Winged Sharpshooter.

"I am very pleased the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved funds for a variety of California's agriculture needs including our fight against the Glassy Winged Sharpshooter," Senator Feinstein said. "This pest and others such as the Mexican Fruit Fly pose a great risk to our crops and I am encouraged that we are making progress in eradicating them."

The FY2003Agriculture Appropriations Bill approved by the Committee today includes the following items of interest to California:

$9 million for the California Department of Food and Agriculture State Control Plan to fight the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter;
$3.5 million for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Research Service to research ways to combat the the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter;
$2.5 million for cooperative agricultural research program;
$2.5 million for Sudden Oak Death;
$400,000 for the Bi-National Ag Research/Development Program;
$1.8 million for the Center for Exotic Pest Research (UC Riverside);
$500,000 for the Central California Ozone Study;
$1.6 million for the East-West Viticulture Consortium;
$2.5 million for the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas for sustainable agriculture practices;
Report language for funding for the Distance Learning Tele-medicine Program at the Fresno Community Medical Center;
$3 million for the Methyl Bromide Transition Program;
$15 million for the Sustainable Agriculture Research.