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On March 27th, USDA-APHIS posted online the long awaited results of the Farm Bill Section 10201 funding requests. This section of the Farm Bill is broadly defined as being dedicated to the identification, mitigation, and management of pests and diseases of specialty crops, which include fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, nursery and greenhouse crops. The release of these funds was delayed, largely due to concerns over the optics of funding Farm Bill programs at a time when budget cuts may mean staff furloughs. A week before the funds were released ANLA met with Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Edward Avalos, to encourage the release of the funds describing the need as immediate.

Filed under: Farm Bill • Boxwood Blight • disease • Impatiens Downy Mildew • legislation • research

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On March 27th, the USDA-APHIS announced that $385,000 in federal Farm Bill research funds would be directed toward a group of researchers to study Impatiens Downy Mildew. ANLA, in cooperation with SAF, has been working with this group of academic and federal scientists for months to develop a coordinated research agenda. The project proposal was designed to answer fundamental questions about the disease and identify strategies for dealing with it in the near and long-term. According to Dr. Mary Hausbeck, Professor at Michigan State University and a Primary Investigator on the project, "Impatiens Downy Mildew is a new challenge for our greenhouse and landscape industries for which we have too few answers.“

Filed under: disease • Impatiens Downy Mildew • Farm Bill • USDA • legislation • research

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On March 27th the USDA-APHIS announced the spending plan for section 10201 of the Farm Bill – funding intended to tackle pest and disease prevention and management issues impacting specialty crops. Through collaboration and advocacy efforts ANLA successfully highlighted the threats boxwood blight and impatiens downy mildew pose to the industry and helped to guide over $1 million in research funds to address them. The $385,000 awarded to Impatiens Downy Mildew research efforts represents new funding and the first time that Farm Bill dollars will be provided to deal with this particular disease. The $660,000 given to two coordinated projects on Boxwood Blight is a continuation of the collaborative effort that began last year with $550,000 in Farm Bill support.

Filed under: Farm Bill • Impatiens Downy Mildew • legislation • Boxwood Blight

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The submission period for funding through Section 10201 (Pest and Disease Management) of the Farm Bill closed on December 12th with over 500 proposals submitted. USDA-APHIS has $50 million in funds to allocate for FY-2013.
ANLA has been working with two groups of researchers that are closely aligned with industry and are strong partners in attempts to deal with the long-term implications of Boxwood Blight and Impatiens Downy Mildew (IDM). These researchers have submitted four proposals to fund their efforts on these important pathogens. Their work would focus on the development of new mitigation strategies, disease epidemiology, and rapid - field deployable - diagnostic tools. Final funding decisions should be announced by APHIS-USDA sometime in late February or early March of 2013.
ANLA will continue to work with these researchers, helping to guide their research agenda when necessary, to make sure it fulfills the needs of industry.

Filed under: Boxwood Blight • disease • Impatiens Downy Mildew

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Registration is now open for the Impatiens Downy Mildew webinar being hosted by ANLA and OFA on October 4th beginning at 1pm. Dr. Colleen Warfield from Ball Horticultural and Nancy Rechcigl from Syngenta will be presenting what they’ve learned about this pathogen over the last season and describing how the lessons learned can be applied for a more productive 2013.

Click here to register. If you are unable to participate in the live webinar, it will be recorded and maintained on www.impatiensdownymildew.com for later viewing.

Filed under: events • Impatiens Downy Mildew • disease • research