USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded nearly $2 million in funding — through the Rapid Response to Emerging and Re-emerging Pest and Diseases Events Across Food and Agriculture Systems program — four projects that address T. parvispinus in specialty crops, a pathogen that affects strawberries, cotton jassid, and New World screwworm. Rapid responses to pest and disease events are critical to maintaining a secure, accessible, safe, nutritious, affordable and abundant food supply. Innovative Extension and applied research efforts are needed to alleviate the impacts pest and disease events across the food and agricultural system.
The Rapid Response to Pests and Disease Events program, funded through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, is designed to rapidly deploy strategies and fill knowledge and information gaps to protect the nation’s food and agricultural supply chains — and the people who support and rely on them — during and after the emergence or re-emergence of pests and diseases associated with animal production systems and/or the emergence or re-emergence of invasive diseases, insects, and weeds associated with plant production systems and/or toxins affecting the health of either plant or animal production systems.
Awardees
- Texas A&M AgriLife Research
- University of Georgia
- Vectech, Inc.
- University of California, Davis