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PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 00-1560

NOTICES

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Plum Pox Virus Commercial Nursery Fruit Tree Indemnity Program

[30 Pa.B. 4737]

   The Department of Agriculture (Department) hereby gives notice of the procedures and requirements under which it will award grants under the Plum Pox Virus Commercial Nursery Fruit Tree Indemnity Program (Program). In summary, the Program is intended to provide owners of commercial nurseries producing stone fruit trees reimbursement for 15% of the losses they will sustain as a result of the destruction of peach trees, nectarine trees and other stone fruit trees as part of the Department's Plum Pox Virus (PPV) eradication effort. The Program complements a forthcoming initiative of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to reimburse commercial stone fruit producers and commercial nurseries producing stone fruit trees for 85% of these losses.

   The formula under which payments will be made under the Program is identical to the formula to be employed by USDA in making its payments. This notice restates statutory authority and provides background information.

Authority

   Section 208 of the General Appropriation Act of 2000, act of May 24, 2000 (P. L. __, No. 21A) appropriates the sum of $3.1 million to the Department for fruit tree indemnity payments relating to the PPV.

Background

   The PPV, a plant pest indigenous to Europe, is a serious plant pest that injures and damages stone fruits such as peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots by drastically reducing the fruit yields from these stone fruit trees and by disfiguring the fruit to the point it is unmarketable. The PPV has been detected on stone fruit trees located in Latimore, Huntington, Tyrone and Menallen Townships (Adams County), and in South Middleton and Dickinson Townships (Cumberland County). The PPV has the potential to cause serious damage to the stone fruit production and stone fruit nursery industries within this Commonwealth. The PPV is transmitted from infected trees by aphids and by budding or grafting with PPV-infected plant material.

   The Department has used its authority under the Plant Pest Act (3 P. S. §§ 258.1--258.27) to establish a quarantine with respect to the townships where PPV has been detected. Quarantine orders were published at 29 Pa.B. 5735 (November 6, 1999) and 30 Pa.B. 3269 (July 1, 2000), and may be revised in the future as the Department's effort to contain and eradicate this plant pest moves forward. The quarantine orders prohibit the movement of stone fruit trees and stone fruit budwood within the quarantined areas, and prohibit the movement of stone fruit trees and stone fruit budwood out of the quarantined areas.

   There is no known control for the PPV other than the destruction of infected trees and the aphids that can carry the disease. The Program is intended to implement the Department's statutory authority to compensate fruit tree owners for a portion of the losses they will experience as a result of having to destroy stone fruit trees at the order of this Department.

   The Department has, with the assistance of agricultural economists from the Pennsylvania State University, worked with the USDA to develop a PPV loss reimbursement formula that is acceptable to both the Department and the USDA and that reasonably reflects the losses a commercial nursery producing stone fruit trees would sustain with respect to stone fruit nursery stock destroyed to combat the PPV. In summary, there are two separate formulas, one for the 2000 nursery crop and one for the 2001 nursery crop.

   The formula for reimbursing losses with respect to year 2000 stone fruit nursery stock destroyed by order of the Department addresses only peach and nectarine trees, since these are the only types of year 2000 stone fruit nursery stock affected by these orders. The formula is as follows:

With respect to year 2000 peach and nectarine nursery stock, Department will calculate the number of peach or nectarine trees in the referenced nursery stock, subtract 5% from this figure (to reflect that, on average, 5% of a given peach and nectarine stone fruit nursery crop of this age is culled from the crop, unsold), multiply this number of trees by the net value of $4.55-per-tree, and pay the owner 15% of that sum.

   The formula for reimbursing losses with respect to year 2001 stone fruit nursery stock destroyed by order of the Department distinguishes between ''peach and nectarine'' trees and ''apricot and plum'' trees. The formula is as follows:

With respect to year 2001 peach and nectarine nursery stock, Department will calculate the number of such trees in the referenced nursery stock, subtract 22% from this figure (to reflect that, on average, 22% of a given peach and nectarine stone fruit nursery crop of this age is either culled from the crop or fails to bud), multiply this number of trees by the net value of $3.30-per-tree, and pay the owner 15% of that sum.
With respect to year 2001 apricot and plum nursery stock, Department will calculate the number of such trees in the referenced nursery stock, subtract 32% from this figure (to reflect that, on average, 32% of a given apricot and plum stone fruit nursery crop of this age is either culled from the crop or fails to bud), multiply this number of trees by the net value of $4.75-per-tree, and pay the owner 15% of that sum.

   The forgoing formulas are the same formulas that will be applied by the USDA, with the exception that the USDA will reimburse affected owners 85% of their losses, rather than 15%.

   The Program will employ a grant application form to distribute grant funds. This procedure is substantively identical to that employed by the Department in awarding grants under its Plum Pox Virus Commercial Orchard Fruit Tree Indemnity Program (30 Pa.B. 4014 (August 5, 2000)) and its Commercial Orchard and Fruit Tree Nursery Indemnity Program (30 Pa.B. 48 (January 1, 2000)) related programs that reimburses certain individuals for lost profits and for the costs of removing infected trees or applying pesticides or herbicides at the order of the Department, respectively.

Eligibility

   A person who is an owner of a commercial fruit tree nursery is eligible to apply for a grant under the Program.

Applications

   A person who wishes to apply for a grant under the Program may download an application form from the Department's website: www.pda.state.pa.us. The Department will also provide grant application forms upon request telephoned to the Department's Bureau of Plant Industry, at (717) 772-5203, or upon written request to the following address: Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, ATTN: Bureau of Plant Industry, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408.

   An application for a grant under the Program will require the following information of an applicant:

   1.  The name and address of the applicant.

   2.  Verification that the applicant is an owner of a commercial stone fruit tree nursery.

   3.  A description of the location of the stone fruit nursery stock with respect to which a grant is sought.

   4.  Verification that the stone fruit nursery stock with respect to which a grant is sought was ordered destroyed by order of the Department or the USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine (USDA-APHIS-PPQ), for purposes of controlling or containing PPV.

   5.  Verification that prior to the destruction of the stone fruit nursery stock the applicant and the Department conducted a physical inspection of the nursery stock to assess the number of stone fruit trees, by species and crop year (whether year 2000 or year 2001) to be destroyed, and had agreed upon the accuracy of this information, in writing.

   6.  A breakdown of the total numbers of stone fruit nursery stock, by species and crop year (whether year 2000 or year 2001) of trees.

   7.  Verification that the stone fruit nursery stock was, in fact, destroyed in accordance with the order of the Department or the USDA-APHIS-PPQ.

   8.  A signature acknowledging that representations made in the application are true, and further acknowledging that the criminal punishments and penalties of 18 Pa.C.S. § 4904 (relating to unsworn falsification to authorities) apply to any false statement made in the application.

   An applicant shall submit a complete application form to the Department at the mailing address set forth earlier in this section.

Review of Applications

   The Department will review and approve or disapprove any complete, timely grant application within 30 days of receipt. The Department will stamp or otherwise identify each grant application to record the date and the order in which these applications are received. The Department will consider grant applications in the order they are received. The Department will approve a grant application if all of the following criteria are met:

   1.  The application is complete and provides the Department all the information necessary to a reasoned review of the document.

   2.  There are sufficient unencumbered funds available from the $3.1 million appropriation contained in the Appropriation Act of 2000 Act to fund the grant amount sought in the reimbursement grant application.

Notice of Decision

   The Department will, within 10 days of completing its review, mail a grant applicant written notice as to whether the grant application is approved. If the application is not approved, the written notice will specify the basis for disapproval.

Expiration of Appropriation

   Any portion of the $3.1 million appropriation funding the Program that is not used by June 30, 2001, shall lapse into the General Fund. If a grant application is not approved by the Department by that date, it shall be disapproved on the basis that funding has lapsed.

No Right or Entitlement to Funds.

   The appropriation of funds under the Appropriation Act of 2000 does not create in any person a right or entitlement to a grant from these funds. Departmental approval of a grant application is the event that establishes entitlement of the applicant to the grant funds sought, provided appropriated funds are available in an amount adequate to fund the grant.

Additional Information

   Further information may be obtained by contacting the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Attn: Lyle B. Forer, Director, Bureau of Plant Industry, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408, (717) 772-5203.

SAMUEL E. HAYES, Jr.,   
Secretary

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 00-1560. Filed for public inspection September 8, 2000, 9:00 a.m.]


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