Virus symptons seen in Palouse pea fields; U.S. again brucellosis free
Washington Ag Today July 16, 2009 Scientists that track the pea aphid report virus disease symptoms have been observed in several fields in the southern part of the Palouse. Tissue samples are being collected from fields throughout the region and results will be reported on the Aphid/Virus Tracker website in a few days. Late last week pea enation mosaic virus was positively identified in a pea field near Almota. http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/aphidtracker/latebreaking.asp The United States is once again brucellosis free. Lindsey Cole of USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says that’s because Montana’s classification has changed from Class A to Class Free of the abortion causing animal disease. Cole: “Class Free basically means that when the state of Montana goes to ship cattle to the other states that they will be able to certify that those cattle do not have brucellosis and they have not been in contact with other cattle that may the disease.” The Class Free status comes after a year of restrictions following two reported cases of brucellosis in a one year period in Montana. Washington state is receiving 572-thousand dollars in Emergency Conservation Program funds from the USDA to repair farmland damaged by natural disasters in 2008 and 2009. The money will be used to remove farmland debris; restore fences; grade and shape land; repair conservation structures that were damaged by floods, storms and wildfires, and carry out emergency water conservation measures after severe drought. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
