Florida to Receive $6.4 Million in USDA Farm Bill Section 10007 Funding

Funding Supports Local Projects to Protect Agriculture and Plants from Pests and Diseases

 WASHINGTON, March 22, 2018 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating $6.4 million to Florida from Section 10007 of the 2014 Farm Bill as part of its effort to strengthen the nation’s infrastructure for pest detection and surveillance, identification, and threat mitigation, and to safeguard the nursery production system. Overall, USDA is providing nearly $70 million in funding this year that will support 494 projects across the country.

“We are pleased to partner with Florida to provide critical Farm Bill funds that will put innovative ideas into action and help us overcome our shared invasive pest and disease challenges,” said USDA Under Secretary Greg Ibach. “Florida is a critical partner in protecting U.S. agriculture. These projects will enable Florida to protect its own resources, and, in doing so, contribute to USDA’s mission of keeping our nation’s agriculture economy healthy and strong.”

These funds will support projects covering a range of plant health and pest mitigation activities, including the following:

  • $1.6 million to support eradication activities against the giant African land snail in Florida;
  • $1.3 million to support the activities of Florida’s detector dog teams and enhanced efforts to detect harmful, exotic plant pests in packages at mail and express parcel delivery facilities;
  • $1 million to survey for harmful exotic fruit fly populations in the State;
  • $781,000 to manage and mitigate harmful plant pests such as the conehead termite, exotic fruit flies, Bagrada bug, chili thrips, and Benisia whitefly;
  • $530,000 to develop or enhance plant pest and disease diagnostic and identification technologies for exotic fruit flies and other pests;
  • $498,00 to support National Clean Plant Network foundation plant stocks for citrus and grapes;
  • $410,000 to assess the plant health risk of pests and diseases such as exotic wood-boring insects from Asia, the sweetgum inscriber insect, and plum pox virus;
  • $160,000 to conduct survey activities for Old World bollworm and other tomato crop pests; and
  • $116,000 to support youth and first detector awareness about plant biosecurity and invasive plant pest species.

USDA has funded 1,849 projects with approximately $228 million in Section 10007 funding since the 2014 Farm Bill was enacted. Collectively, these projects continue to bolster our country’s safeguarding system while allowing USDA and its partners to quickly detect and rapidly respond to invasive pests and diseases. You can view the FY 2018 spending plans on the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Web site at www.aphis.usda.gov/farmbill.

APHIS created the Hungry Pests public outreach program to empower Americans with the knowledge they need to leave these “hungry pests” behind. Visit www.aphis.usda.gov/pestsdiseases/hungrypests to learn more about invasive plant pests and diseases impacting your area and how you can help.

 

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