PA Plum Pox Eradication Team Honored by U.S. Agriculture Secretary
HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania's successful, decade-long effort to eradicate Plum Pox Virus was recognized this week by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The Secretary's Honors Award was presented to the Pennsylvania nursery industry and fruit growers, and team members from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA Agricultural Research Service and Penn State University research and extension.
"It is truly an honor to receive this recognition from Secretary Vilsack, and is a tribute to the phenomenal team effort between the growers, state and federal agriculture departments and Penn State University," said state Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding. "Pennsylvania can be proud of the fact that we were able to eradicate a plant virus – an unprecedented achievement."
The Plum Pox Virus is a disease that severely affects stone fruit production.
Found in Adams County peach trees in 1999—the first-ever detection of the virus in North America—the state and federal agriculture departments teamed with Penn State University to impose a 300-square mile quarantine area, perform aggressive surveillance and develop an eradication program.
Since trees cannot be cured of Plum Pox, affected growers were required to destroy all exposed stone fruit trees within the quarantined areas in the four affected counties. In Pennsylvania, 1,675 orchard acres were destroyed.
No virus has been found in the past three years, which meets the requirements to declare Pennsylvania free of the virus. Now orchard growers and residential homeowners within the quarantined area can begin replanting.
Now in the recovery phase, summer survey crews are collecting samples from commercial orchards in Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and York counties and other key production areas in the state through mid-August. Crews are also conducting a limited homeowner survey.
For more information about Plum Pox Virus, visit www.agriculture.state.pa.us and click on "Plant and Animal Health."
Media contact: Jean Kummer, 717-787-5085
SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
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