A34-UincMtef Farming, Saturday, January 29, 2000
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Agri- announced two new steps to
culture Secretary Dan Glickman help small farmers and ranchers
Feds Promise To Give
Growers $B.B Million
To Fight Plum Pox
HERSHEY (AP)-To fight an
outbreak of plum pox virus in
Pennsylvania orchards, federal
officials are promising to spend
$B.B million, with $5.1 million
designated for four affected
orchard owners and two nurs
eries to replace income lost
through destruction of infected
trees.
Growers said the emergency
money, together with plans that
show less orchard destruction
than first feared, leave them
more hopeful about the future of
Adams County peaches.
■‘l think there’s a
chance to get through
it,” Jim Lott of
Gardners said Wed
nesday, after an
update on the virus at
the State Horticult
ural Association of
Pennsylvania meeting
in Hershey.
The money is to be
released under a dec
laration of extraordi
nary emergency sign
ed by U.S. Secretary of
Agriculture DanGlick
man last week. It is
intended to make up
years of lost peach
sales for affected
growers.
Lott and others
also caution that not
enough is known
about the unusual dis
ease’s spread to say
they’ve beaten it.
The virus poses no
threat to people. But it
causes deformities on
stone fruits, such as
peaches and nec
tarines, and eventual
ly saps production
from those trees.
Last fall, the virus
was discovered in 18
Adams County fields
belonging to four
growers in the first
recorded outbreak of
plum pox in North
America.
There has been no
evidence of the virus
at orchards in Lancas
ter County.
In the middle of
spring, federal inspec
tors plan to begin a
round of tree surveys
to determine how far
plum pox has spread.
The fall tests, while
helpful in getting an
early handle on the
infestation, are widely
believed to have been
too cursory for officials
to state for sure that
the virus is contained.
Lott said he expects
to take a bulldozer to
the affected fields.
State Plant Virol
ogist Ruth Welliver
said most of the 18
infected fields must be
destroyed.
Glickman Announces New Funding, Technical
Assistance For Small Farmers
“We’re only taking out blocks
where we have a positive for
plum pox virus,” Welliver said
Wednesday. Barring additional
discoveries of the virus this
spring, other fields in the two
township quarantine zone can
stay.
“It could create a hardship
but there’s no question in my
mind that we’re going to get
through this," said M. Everett
Weiser, an affected grower who
has been growing fruit and veg
etables in Adams County since
1945.
“We’re just not of a nature to
give up.”
find better ways to market and
export their products.
“There is no higher priority
for USDA than working to
ensure the long-term survival
and economic well-being of
America’s small- and medium
size family farms,” Glickman
said. “Expanded export opportu
nities and improved marketing
offer tremendous opportunities
to boost small farm incomes dur
ing this time of depressed
prices.”
Glickman announced that
USDA will provide $500,000 to
help small farmers develop new
ways to market their products,
including direct selling to
restaurants and institutions,
agri-tourism, and pick-your-own
farms. Under USDA’s Sustain
able Agriculture Research and
Education Program, the Univ
ersity of Vermont, University of
Nebraska, * University of
Georgia, and Utah State
University will select and assist
specific new marketing projects
that will benefit smaller farms.
In addition, USDA will offer '
technical assistance to help
small farmers and ranchers
form cooperatives to export
crops and livestock to interna
tional markets. Loans are avail-
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Glickman made the
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scale farmers, ranchers, and
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