USDA Acts to End Fight Over Plant Disease

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released a set of rules to control a plant disease known as sudden oak death, and growers say the regulations will make it easier for California’s $2.35-billion nursery industry to ship plants to other states.

An outbreak of the disease at two commercial nurseries in Southern California in March prompted at least 12 states to impose various types of quarantines on California-grown plants, threatening the financial health of the industry.

The new USDA rules, issued Tuesday, are designed to create a national policy that would settle a sometimes bitter battle between California growers and agriculture officials in the other states, including Kentucky and Florida, which attempted to block all shipments of California plants regardless of whether they were known to be carriers of the disease.

“If this does bring the states in line, then it is a significant diplomatic victory for USDA,” said Tom O’Brien, an industry lobbyist.

California ships about $500 million in nursery plants to other states annually and is the main supplier during the early spring months for much of the Midwest and Eastern seaboard.

In July, the trade association representing California’s nursery industry filed a federal lawsuit against the agriculture commissioner of Kentucky, seeking to overturn what the group called a “blockade” against California’s plants and even its dirt.

Kentucky officials quickly reversed their stand, but the lawsuit and the actions by the other states left California growers worried that they would face more hurdles when they were ready to ship a new crop of plants in the spring of next year.

The new USDA order also reaffirms quarantines at 13 Northern California counties and one in Oregon where the pathogen has been found in forests.

The order requires nurseries in non-quarantined counties in California, Oregon and Washington to undergo annual inspections ensuring they are free of any infestations prior to shipping stock across state lines, said Katie Palmieri of the California Oak Mortality Task Force.

“A lot of nurseries in California and Oregon have already met the new requirements,” she said.

Don Dillon, a citrus nursery owner in Fremont, said having a standard policy that the USDA would require all states to adhere to would make it easier to ship products outside of California.

Growers, however, remain frustrated by regulations that dictate what happens when a diseased plant is found in a nursery and will probably ask the USDA to refine the testing methodology and to revisit the rules that trigger the destruction of plants.

Camellias and rhododendrons, staples of California’s nursery trade, are known hosts of the disease, which was first spotted in a wild oak forest in Marin County nine years ago.

At least 28 plant species are known to contract sudden oak death in the wild. An additional 31 species have demonstrated the ability to catch the disease in a controlled setting and are known as associated hosts. The state bans, the destruction of infected plants and the expense of complying with rules related to oak death have collectively cost producers millions of dollars since March.

USDA officials couldn’t be reached for comment.