K2871 Kittitas County Agreement - Laserfiche WebLink

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WSDA Agreement No. K2871 K2871 Grant Agreement ATTACHMENT A PROJECT PLAN As submitted by the Washington State Department of Agriculture and approved by the United States Department of Agriculture under FY19 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program: Project Title Kittitas County Duration of Project Start Date: 9/30/2019 End Date: 9/29/2022 Project Partner and Summary Kittitas County has a new and currently rapidly expanding specialty crop production area. The north facing slopes on the southern hills of the Kittitas Valley is an ideal location for growing apples like Honeycrisp, Cosmic Crisp and other large growing multi-colored apples in the Honeycrisp family. The climate in this new production area that is rapidly expanding has summertime temperatures that are seven to ten degrees cooler than other production areas and it grows a high quality apple with reduced size and increased quality and storability. This project will help to promote and encourage the introduction of these new varieties into an area that is naturally suited for growing them. The area has the perfect climate for growing these types of apples but is a high risk area for the due to the risk posed by nearby apple maggot populations. There are documented apple maggot populations to the north and west of the location where the expansion is occurring. This program will help the county have control methods in place that will help keep the area in the vicinity of these orchards an apple maggot pest free area. This specialty crop block grant will provide a pathway forward for the county to manage the pest in such a way that the pest risk is significantly reduced for the specialty crop producers and processors in our county. The program will help manage the risk of apple maggot as the area continues to develop. Project Purpose The purpose is to suppress and eradicate the apple maggot in pest free areas in Kittitas County. Apple maggot is a quarantined pest under Washington State law and suppression and preventing spread of this pest into commercial production areas is vital to Washington’s $2 billion apple industry. There has been a major increase in specialty crop production (apples) in Kittitas County. The north facing slopes on the southern hills of the Kittitas Valley is an ideal location for growing apples like Honeycrisp, Cosmic Crisp and other large growing multi-colored apples in the Honeycrisp family. The climate in this new production area has summertime temperatures that are seven to ten degrees cooler than other production areas and it grows a high quality apple with reduced size and increased quality and storability. This project will help to promote and encourage the introduction of these new varieties into an area that is naturally suited for growing them. The area has the perfect climate for growing these types of apples but it is a high risk area for growers because the county is not yet set up to deal with the risk posed by existing apple maggot populations nearby. There are documented apple maggot populations to the north and west of the location where the expansion is occurring, and Interstate 90 runs through the county and provides additional risk pathways for this pest. Apple maggot is considered intolerable within the commercial fruit industry for quite a few reasons. An infestation of apple maggot in a crop would require destruction. There are no known treatments for infected fruit. Also, if apple maggot infected fruit was detected at an international port, it could lead to anything from the loss of that shipment, to a prohibition on Washington fruit to that country. The impacts could be so significant that Washington State established an apple maggot quarantine program in 1983. Continued surveillance and treatment of found apple maggot infestations is vital to protecting Washington’s status as a producer of high-value, pest free tree fruit. This program will help the county have control methods in place that will help keep the area in the vicinity of these orchards an apple maggot pest free area. This specialty crop block grant will provide a pathway forward for the county to manage the pest in such a way that the pest risk is significantly reduced for the specialty crop producers and processors in the county. The program will help manage the risk of apple maggot as the area continues to develop, and also continue to protect Washington’s reputation for high-valued fruit. Objectives