A $38,000 state grant will help the San Benito County
Agriculture Commissioner’s office keep a grapevine-killing pest out
of Hollister.
Hollister – A $38,000 state grant will help the San Benito County Agriculture Commissioner’s office keep a grapevine-killing pest out of Hollister.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture offered the money, which is raised by taxes levied on wineries and vineyards, as part of a statewide effort to monitor, control and eradicate the glassy-winged sharpshooter.
“The biggest problem with the glassy-winged is that it spreads Pierce’s Disease,” said Agricultural Commissioner Paul Matulich. “Pierce’s disease can ruin an entire vineyard over time.”
The quarter- to half-inch long pest spreads a harmful a bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa, which can cause Pierce’s Disease in grapevines. The first sign of infection is a drying or “scorching” of the vine’s leaves.
Pierce’s disease has not yet been established in San Benito County, Matulich said. Most of the work will be inspecting nursery stock, including plants, shrubs, flowers and trees, before they are sold in San Benito County by retail and wholesale merchants to make sure the disease and the sharpshooter don’t gain a foothold here.
Matulich said his office will focus on nursery stock shipped from Southern California, because sharpshooters prefer the warmer, more tropical climate of that area.
For the last five years, San Benito County has received from between $35,000 to $45,000 to inspect nursery stock, which can be a time-consuming process.
“You need to damn near look at every plant in a shipment to see if there are any egg masses,” Matulich said. Egg masses indicate the presence of sharpshooters.
State funding for the glassy-winged sharpshooter inspection program has benefited local wineries by keeping the pests and the disease out of San Benito County.
“It has been helpful in the aspect that it shows us that (the disease) has not been established here,” Matulich said.
However, the Agricultural Commissioners Office has been busy fighting West Nile Virus and the additional inspection work load has Matulich considering hiring another inspector. He estimates that between March and August inspectors usually examine 300 to 400 shipments of nursery stock.
“(State money) pays for the program, but inspections do create more work for us,” Matulich said.
Brett Rowland covers education for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
