California
’s grape growers have agreed to tax themselves through 2011 to
fight the glassy-winged sharpshooter, a pest capable of wiping out
vineyards.
California’s grape growers have agreed to tax themselves through 2011 to fight the glassy-winged sharpshooter, a pest capable of wiping out vineyards.
The referendum to extend a tax first assessed in 2002 was approved by 89.7 percent of the growers who voted in the election. Fifty-five percent of the state’s 7,425 growers cast ballots in the mail-in vote.
It will cost grape growers $1 to $3 for every $1,000 of crop value.
The sharpshooter was discovered in California in 1999. The insect preys on a variety of crops, but carries a plague, Pierce’s Disease, that is particularly lethal to grapevines. The disease essentially clogs the plumbing in a vine, making it impossible for the fruit to receive water and nutrients. Grape growers are the only farmers who pay a tax to fight the pest.
“Growers have worked tirelessly with us for years now to make the Pierce’s disease control program a success,” said A.G. Kawamura, California’s secretary of agriculture. “This is tremendous vote of confidence, but we are mindful that Pierce’s disease and the sharpshooter are a very real threat.”
In its first four years, the assessment has raised $17.8 million since 2002 and funded about 100 studies of the sharpshooter’s habits. The California Department of Food and Agriculture has spent about $145 million in state and federal funding to control the bug over the last five years.
State growers did not vote on the first tax increase, but supported the 2000 California Senate bill that imposed the assessment for five years. Had the referendum failed, the tax would have expired after 2006.
Matt King covers Santa Clara County for The Times. Reach him at 847-7240 or mk***@gi************.com.
