JINNY WILT
Adams Co. correspondent
BIGLERVILLE (Adams Co.)
Taking an aggressive stance,
state and federal agricultural
authorities and foreign scien
tists are working quickly in an
effort to eradicate the plum pox
virus that has infected the
stonefruit crop in Adams
County.
The state recently released
$2 million to fight the virus,
state Secretary of Agriculture
Samuel E. Hayes, Jr. said in a
press briefing Tuesday evening
at the Penn State Fruit Lab in
Biglerville.
Hayes will work with the
state’s fruit growers to use the
money in conjunction with that
expected from the federal gov
ernment to not only help produc
ers deal with the losses, but to
fund projects to eradicate the
virus.
The secretary said he has
asked US. Secretary of
Agriculture Dan Glickman to
declare an emergency, which
would open up funds to fruit
growers who are impacted by
the virus
Every day,
more farmers are taking
advantage of the many
benefits of Dairylea,
Aggressive Strategies In Place To Fight Fruit Virus
In addition, the USDA invit
ed scientists from France,
Hungary, and Spain to present a
workshop to fruit growers and
others who are working with the
problem.
In Europe, plum pox virus
was the first described in
Bulgaria in the 19305; however,
it may have been in existence as
early as 1910. It has since pro
gressively spread throughout
most European countries, the
Mediterranean, and England.
In 1988, the virus was identi
fied in Egypt. It has also been
found throughout Turkey, Syria,
India, and most of Chile In
1994, it was estimated that 100
million trees in Europe were
infected with the virus.
Hayes said of the Europeans,
“they have been stricken by this
curse and are struggling
through the regimens necessary
to contain it, manage it, and
eradicate it.”
France, England, and the
Netherlands have been very suc
cessful in eradicating the virus
rather quickly.
Noting that the common
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wealth is grateful the USDA
invited the European scientists
to Pennsylvania, Hayes said,
“This is not just a Pennsylvania
problem This virus has the
capacity to go far beyond where
it is at this time (which is know
to be on the property of four fruit
growers in Latimore and
Huntingdon townships in
Adams County). It has every
potential to spread beyond the
political boundaries of
Pennsylvania.
“We are a major stone-fruit
producer, but so is the United
States. I’m hopeful that what we
do in Pennsylvania will serve
the fruit growers across the
nation,” he said.
The secretary said “I hope it
was found early enough to elim
inate it in its tracks, rather than
manage it, although no scientist
knows the answer to that.”
He explained there is a sur
vey under way to determine how
the virus got here, but at this
time there is no answer to that
question, either. He theorized
that possibly it came to Adams
County on root stock, bud stock,
grafting materials, “or someone
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bringing it from the homeland.”
Surrounded by USDA and
PDA officials and the European
scientists, Hayes said the cost of
the virus “will be tens of millions
of dollars.”
Ruth Welliver, state virolo
gist, said not only are the fruit
growers affected, but so are the
nursery people. “I just heard
from Oregon that $90,000 was
lost in nursery sales slated for
Canada.” Canada has placed an
embargo on such materials com
ing from the United States.
She said that a statewide
check will be taken in the spring
to determine how far the virus
might have spread. Hayes had
Bond Issue
Preservation
LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.)
On Wednesday, the Lancaster
County commissioners approved a
$25 million bond issue to preserve
166 working farms from a six-year
waiting list.
“This is an investment in Lan
caster County's future, and I don't
think you can make a better invest
ment at this time,” said Gene Gar
ber, chairman of the county’s
Agricultural Preserve Board and a
West Donegal Township farmer.
According to a story in the Lan
caster New Era, Garber, whose
agency was founded in 1980 to
preserve the county’s best farms,
said the new bond program is
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 18, 1999-A35
To Reduce
Waiting List
monumental.
Because there has been a wait
ing list, other farmers have been
hesitant to enroll in the program
because they knew they might
have to wait years before they
could receive payment for preserv
ing their farms, according to the
New Era. The bond money could
help wipe out the current backlog
of preservation applications within
two years.
On the wailing list are 166
farms, which comprise about
13.000 acres of farmland. So far,
about 380 farms have been pre
served here, encompassing about
32.000 acres.
said it is not known at this point
how widespread the problem is.
Comparing it to the avian
influenza outbreak of recent
years, Hayes said he learned
“there is only one way to go
about it and that’s aggressively,
and all the time. In this case
we’ll be just as aggressive ”
The virus identified in Adams
County is the D strain which is
the most common and was origi
nally found in apricots in
France
Hayes also noted that while
the fruit of trees infected with
the virus might not look good,
they are perfectly OK to eat. “It
is the same with avian influen
za. It cannot harm humans.”