Pennsylvania Plum Pox Virus Eradication Project Receives Achievement Award

Decade-Long Effort Makes PA Plum Pox-Free

HARRISBURG, Pa., April 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania's decade-long and successful effort to eliminate a tree-borne disease that threatened the state's stone fruit industry has been honored by the federal government for its effectiveness.

The Plum Pox Virus Eradication Project received the 2009 Outstanding Achievement Award from the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine Unit. The award is given for achievements and advancements in plant protection.  

"This honor is shared with all partners -- the growers, state and federal agriculture departments and Penn State University -- who made this momentous achievement a reality," said state Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding. "Eradicating a disease such as Plum Pox is an unprecedented success story and receiving this recognition simply underscores and reinforces that."

The Plum Pox Virus severely affects stone fruit production.

On Oct. 29, 2009, Pennsylvania was declared Plum Pox-free, a full decade after the disease first was identified in Adams County peach trees. The 1999 discovery was the first-ever detection of the virus in North America. The state Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Penn State University Extension and Fruit and Research and Extension Center collaborated to impose a 300-square mile quarantine area, perform aggressive surveillance, and develop an eradication program.

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.

To learn more about the Plum Pox Virus Eradication Program, visit www.agriculture.state.pa.us and click on "Bureaus," then "Plant Industry."

Media contact: Jean Kummer, 717-787-5085

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture

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