USDA Provides more than $1.3 Million to Support Projects that Protect Oregon Food Supply and Natural Resources

WASHINGTON, February 6, 2024 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating more than $1.3 million to Oregon as part of a nationwide effort to strengthen the country’s infrastructure for pest detection, surveillance, and mitigation, as well as protect the U.S. nursery system. Through the authority of the Plant Protection Act Section 7721, USDA is providing more than $70 million in funding this year. These funds will support 374 projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico.

“Oregon has more than 36,000 farms and ranches and 15.7 million acres of farmland. It’s a major producer of hay, wheat, potatoes, blueberries, hazelnuts, and pears” said USDA Under Secretary Jenny Moffitt. “These projects will help protect Oregon’s agricultural resources, which also protect our national food security.”

These funds will support projects covering a range of plant health and pest mitigation activities, including, but not limited to:

• $258,997 to survey for Asian defoliator moths;
• $206,498 to improve and advance detection technologies for the certification and quarantine strategy for Fragaria and Rubus nursery production and plant movement;
• $245,000 to support National Clean Plant Network plant stocks for berries.
• $168,328 to develop a synthetic bread dough odor attractant to detect and manage invasive gastropods;
• $147,309 to evaluate biocontrol agents for spotted wing drosophila; and
• $108,000 to conduct nursery and environmental surveys to protect fruit crops from invasive pests in the state.

Since 2009, USDA has supported more than 5,520 projects and provided nearly $870 million in PPA 7721 funding. These projects help USDA, and its partners quickly detect and respond to invasive plant pests and diseases. They also help our country maintain the essential infrastructure in place that enables U.S. specialty crop producers to have access to healthy, certified disease-free plants.

View the fiscal year 2024 Plant Protection Act’s Section 7721 spending plans online: www.aphis.usda.gov/ppa-projects.