Mar 19, 2015

APHIS Farm Bill Program Helps Support Horticulture IndustrySource: AmericanHort

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced the Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention Program spending plan for this year.

The program will provide nearly $58 million to support mitigation efforts for specialty crops. This is a 20 percent increase over last year, which is due to the expanded support of the new Farm Bill.

Other programs that have received support include :

-Boxwood Blight, which has been funded for a fourth year with $834,000

-Downy mildew research (with a particular focus on impatiens downy mildew) received $417,000

-Rapid diagnostic tool development on rose rosette disease (RRD) was funded at $85,000

AmericanHort, American Beekeeper Federation, American Honey Producers Association, American Seed Trade Association and Pollinator Partnership have coordinated on a project for the first time funded at $85,000.

The project will help identify the value of plants already in the trade that are forage sources for bees at different times of the year. Growers can use the results to identify plants to be cautious with systemic and long-residual insecticides. The public can also be informed about which landscape plants they can purchase from local garden centers that will assist in pollinating their area.

Clemson University, University of California-Davis and University of Washington received more than $2.1 million to help the network’s goal of making disease-free, certified planting materials available to the industry. This will also help ensure the global competitiveness of U.S. specialty crop producers.

AmericanHort and other members of USDA-APHIS’ Farm Bill Management Team were honored with the Safeguarding award, which recognizes a commitment to innovation and excellence.

For more information, visit www.americanhort.org, www.usda.gov, www.aphis.usda.gov.