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California Agricultural Research Priorities Pierce’s Disease
Conduct an economic assessment of insecticide effectiveness within an ecologically based pest management scheme.
Although effective for GWSS, research has demonstrated that existing chemical controls do not provide effective, economically feasible management of Xf or of any other bacterial pathogen of plant vascular systems. Although not all available chemicals have been rigorously tested, chemical control does not appear to be a promising area for short-term management of Xf. This class of controls includes chemicals that do not directly affect the pathogen but which induce systemic resistance in plants. Thus, the committee views this as Category 4 research. However, if research funding is directed at the study of chemical control the work should be directed toward the identification of novel targets in the bacteria for which highly specific chemicals can be identified or developed.
Economic Feasibility
The major factor driving research on PD–GWSS is the economic effect that results from the spread of the insect and pathogen in commercial agriculture but the true economic dimensions of the PD–GWSS problem are poorly defined. Economic analyses are needed in several areas, from studies of the relative cost of implementing control options to the prospective costs of management strategies currently in development. Because there is uncertainty about the spread of PD and GWSS to other parts of California, cost–benefit analyses of state policies on measures to control that spread should be undertaken.
Taking these dimensions into consideration, the committee recommends examples of economic research projects needed. The first two are Category 1 projects:
Assess the economic feasibility of specific biological and chemical control methods and strategies. In addition the cost of crop losses, grape production costs can be incurred through biological or chemical controls. Growers need decision and cost models to guide their implementation of specific control regimes.
An economic analysis, including environmental impacts, should be for all potential management strategies and outcomes. There are no economic analyses of research-based management strategies and outcomes that address PD–GWSS. Such analyses are needed both to help determine the outcomes that will be most economically practical for growers and to inform the research agenda.
The long-term research agenda should include economic analyses of policy regulations, incentives, and institutions to limit introduction and movement of PD vectors. The current concern with PD in California is attributable to the introduction of GWSS, which arrived in California and spread from a single location as a result of human activity. The need to
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