Winegrape Disease Funding To Be Slashed

By Growing Produce Staff|July 19, 2011

It looks like California’s agricultural programs will be hit even more than originally thought, as the state muddles through some of its most difficult financial problems in history. The secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), Karen Ross, sent out a letter this week addressed to CDFA stakeholders alerting them to the fact that the budget signed recently by California Governor Jerry Brown included an additional $4 million in cuts beyond the originally proposed reduction of $15 million for fiscal year 2011-12. The additional cuts affect three CDFA programs: the Pierce’s Disease Control Program ($3.06 million), Red Imported Fire Ant (RIFA, $749,914), and the Medfly Preventive Release Program ($194,000).

As Ross notes, the cut to the Pierce’s Disease Control Program is substantial, and it will require officials to reduce operations and personnel in trapping and biocontrol projects. Pierce’s Disease (PD), an incurable malady that kills grapevines, is spread by an insect called the glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS). After the Temecula winegrowing region in Southern California was devastated by the disease a little more than a decade ago, state officials worked feverishly — and successfully — to prevent the spread of the disease throughout the state’s many winegrowing regions. At the time, Ross was president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers.

“We are working with the PD/GWSS Board, USDA, counties and other stakeholders to identify ways to minimize the overall impacts,” Ross writes, noting that other programs also sustained hits of varying degrees of severity. “The cut to the RIFA program represents CDFA’s entire quarantine enforcement budget for this invasive pest; CDFA will work with counties on local options. The smaller cut to the Medfly program will be achieved through increased efficiencies and without significant impact to the program.”

Ross concludes the letter by noting that these most recent cuts, like those previously identified in the original $15 million reduction to the General Fund budget, were achieved with the advice of many members of the California agricultural community. “These are tough choices, to say the least. I thank you for your assistance and support in arriving at these difficult decisions,” she states. “Your continued involvement will be both necessary and appreciated as we turn our attention to the next round of cuts to General Fund support, as directed by the governor.”