Pierce’s Disease control program may expand

SACRAMENTO
June 2, 2009 5:59am

The California Senate voted 32-0 Monday to approve SB 2, legislation by Sen. Patricia Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, to extend the state’s Pierce’s Disease Control Program. The bill moves to the Assembly for further consideration.

SB 2, extends from 2011 to 2016 the Pierce's Disease Control Program within the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and expands the program’s research component to include designated new pests and diseases affecting grapes grown in California.

The research is paid for by funds that winegrape growers assess upon themselves. The Wiggins bill calls for a referendum of the state’s winegrape growers in order to continue the industry assessment.

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, a fly-sized insect that suck moisture out of plants as it infects them with the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, which causes Pierce's Disease in grapes, almonds, oleander, and citrus fruits. When a plant develops Pierce's Disease, its ability to draw in moisture is hindered and the plant will either die or become un-productive.

In response to this threat to the grape industry, the Legislature passed bills 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 as a partnership between the California Department of Food and Agriculture, 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.

According to Ms. Wiggins, the Pierce's Disease Control Program “has proven to be a very successful effort to control the spread of Pierce's Disease and the Glassy-winged Sharpshooter. While the program is due to sunset in 2011, the disease and the threat of its spread still remain. By extending the sunset date, the Pierce's Disease Control Program can continue to combat the spread of Pierce's Disease and the Glassy-winged Sharpshooter.”

Ms. Wiggins, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on California’s Wine Industry, represents the premium wine-growing counties of Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Lake.

Supporters of SB 2, including the California Association of Winegrape Growers, Family Winemakers of California and the Wine Institute, state that the great inter-governmental and industry coordination through the Pierce's Disease Control Program has proven an excellent model for pest control programs.

By extending the research funding of the program to include other significant pests and diseases threatening California grape growers, they assert, California will be able to build on the success of the Pierce's Disease Control Program to combat other significant pests to grapes grown in the state.