A California Department of Food and Agriculture-funded evaluation found that growers affected by Pierce’s disease would spend nearly $56 million more annually without official intervention.
Pierce’s disease costs California upward of $110 million annually when accounting for damage mitigation, lost production and vine replacement. That cost comes despite of the Pierce’s Disease Control Program, which helps minimize the spread of non-native glassy-winged sharpshooter insects, the primary disease vector.
The CDFA PD/GWSS board oversees the program and allocates funds to research projects, such as the development of Pierce’s disease-resistant grape varieties. Since 2001 the board has spent $57 million to fund over 300 projects, two-thirds of which were dedicated to Pierce’s disease and GWSS research.
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But the report found many growers have yet to adopt successful resistant varieties. It suggests that growers may be unsure whether vine-to-vine transmission of the bacteria causing Pierce’s disease could be transferred to nonresistant vines.
Pierce’s disease first became a serious threat in Southern California in the 1990s, ushering in the need for a prevention program. In addition to CDFA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, county agricultural commissioners, and the University of California and California State University systems all partner on the PDCP.
