Federal grant awarded to fight rose rosette disease

From Joe Bischoff, AmericanHort:

The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced nearly $4.6 million in funding to manage, mitigate, and solve the devastating garden rose pathogen known as rose rosette disease (RRD). The funding was provided through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), a Farm Bill program, which AmericanHort worked to improve in the new 2014 Farm Bill.

Following the 2008 Farm Bill, many SCRI project proposals that would have addressed serious horticulture industry issues went unfunded due to a flawed review process. However, the new legislative language, supported by AmericanHort, has driven more industry participation and greater emphasis on industry relevance. On the RRD project, a strong team of scientists collaborated with industry to develop a solid proposal, and the new review process puts greater emphasis on industry needs. So the project has been funded.

“Garden roses, which form the cornerstone of the multi-billion dollar landscape industry, annually generate wholesale U.S. domestic bare root and container production valued at about $400 million,” said Dr. Dave Byrne, Texas A&M AgriLife Research horticulturist and lead scientist of the project, said. “There is an urgent need to control rose rosette disease.”

The disease is caused by the rose rosette virus, which is transmitted by the mite Phyllocoptes fructiphilus. Unlike other rose diseases, the virus can kill a rose within two to three years of infection, according to Byrne.

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