Sharpshooter war may be extended

SACRAMENTO
April 22, 2009 12:43pm

California’s war against the glassy-winged sharpshooter may be extended for another five years under a bill that’s gotten initial approval in a state Senate committee.

The Committee on Food and Agriculture has voted 5-0 to approve SB 2, legislation by Sen. Patricia Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, to extend the Pierce’s Disease/Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter Program within the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

The program is currently scheduled to sunset, or end, on March 1, 2011; the Wiggins bill would extend the sunset to March 1, 2016, contingent upon whether California wine grape growers wish to continue assessing themselves a fee which contributes part of the funding for the program, which also receives state and federal dollars.

“While the program is due to sunset in 2011, the disease and the threat of its spread still remains,” says Ms. Wiggins. “By extending the sunset date, the program can continue to combat the spread of Pierce's Disease and the glassy-winged sharpshooter.”

In the late 1990s, Pierce's Disease, which has been present in California for more than 100 years, threatened to cause sizable damage to grapes due to the arrival of the glassy-winged sharpshooter, an insect that carries the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, which causes Pierce's Disease in grapes, almonds, oleander, and citrus fruits. The insect feeds on a plant's water-producing elements. When a plant develops Pierce's Disease, its ability to draw in moisture is hindered and the plant will either die or become unproductive.

In response to this threat to the grape industry, the Legislature enacted a legislative package that eventually resulted in the creation of an advisory task force on the Pierce's Disease issue in 1999. In 2000, the Pierce's Disease Control Program was created through a partnership between the CDFA, county agriculture commissioners, United States Department of Agriculture, University of California, local agencies, industry, and agriculture organizations to combat the spread and find solutions for Pierce's Disease and the glassy-winged sharpshooter.

In addition to extending the program for five more years, the Wiggins bill would require the CDFA to conduct a wine grape industry referendum on the Pierce’s Disease Control Program beginning April 15, 2010. Should the referendum fail, the program will still sunset on March 1, 2011.