Senate Appropriations Committee
Provides $12.2 million for Pierce's Disease
July 17, 2001

Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced today that the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved legislation that includes $12.2 million of funding for research and containment of Pierce's Disease and $4 million for fruit fly eradication in California.

"The glassy-winged sharpshooter represents a fundamental threat to California's $2.8 billion wine and grape industry," Senator Feinstein said. "If not actively contained, the sharpshooter -- which causes Pierce's Disease -- could completely destroy the industry in California."

"For that reason, I am pleased that the appropriations committee has approved more than $12.2 million of federal funds to combat this pest."

The FY2002Agriculture Appropriations Bill includes the following items of interest to California:

•$10.7 million for research and containment of Pierce's Disease;

•$1.5 million for a competitive grant program for research into Pierce's Disease;

•$1.5 million to U.C. Center for Exotic Pest Research, which was founded in 1994 to develop a systematic methodology for dealing with exotic pests;

•$36 million for the Fruit Fly Exclusion and Detection Program, including $4 million to detect and eradicate fruit flies in California;

•$2 million for the CA/NY Viticultural Consortium, which supports East and West Coast competitive grant programs;

•$550,000 for Binational Agricultural Research and Development (BARD); BARD was established as a cooperative program between Israeli and the U.S. and concentrates its research on a variety of agricultural issues, including irrigated agriculture, disease with fruit tree crops, and viticultural practices;

•$500,000 for the Central California Ozone Study (CCOS), which collects extensive meteorological data as partof a field study to improve the USDA's meteorological forecasting ability;

•$2.5 million to conduct research into alternatives to Methyl Bromide, a soil fumigant that is widely used to protect California's high value crops such as strawberries, nursery crops, and tree fruits. Methyl Bromide is scheduled to be phased out by 2005;

•$3.1 million for the management of Red Imported Fire Ants. Fire Ants have been identified in 21 Southern California cities, mostly located within Orange County;

•$5 million to complete funding for the Western Human Nutrition facility at UC Davis;

•$2 million for Technology Transfer to Rural Areas, a low cost way to provide information to farmers and other rural users on a variety of sustainable agriculture practices; and

•$25 million to allow low-income citizens to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at farmer's markets.





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