On Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, announced the availability $45 million in FY2010 funds for Section 10201 of the 2008 Farm Bill. Administered by USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the 2008 Farm Bill's Horticulture Title, Section 10201, the section dedicated to Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention, funds projects to "build and preserve critical plant health safeguarding initiatives across America."

Section 10201 provides funding to more than 50 specialty crop stakeholders, including state departments of agriculture, universities, nonprofit organizations and USDA agencies, and this year, will fund over 200 state, regional and national projects directed at enhancing early plant pest detection and surveillance, threat identification and mitigation and safeguarding nursery production. 

The announcement of these funds represents another significant achievement for the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance (SCFBA), the national coalition of more than 120 specialty crop organizations representing 350 specialty crops, who organized in support of mutual priorities being included in the 2008 Farm Bill

According to Robert Guenther, United Fresh senior vice president of public policy, and the ecretary of the SCFBA, "Key members of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance were consistently engaged with APHIS since the Farm Bill became law in 2008 to ensure USDA released funding for section 10201 in a timely manner, and also to ensure funds addressed our industry's plant pest and disease priorities. All-in-all, this is truly an important accomplishment, due in large part to SCFBA efforts."

For more information about Sec.10201 or the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, click here, or contact Robert Guenther at 202-303-3409.