Abstract:
Since 2000, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), has spent approximately $40 million per year to contain and control the Glassy Winged Sharpshooter (GWSS), which spreads Pierce’s Disease (PD). Compliance with the program has cost the nursery industry approximately $7 million per year in recent years. Using a simulation model of the market for California winegrapes, we estimate PD costs winegrape growers and consumers $61 million annually, with the current program in place. If the PD Control Program ended, and the GWSS was distributed freely throughout California, the annual cost to the winegrape industry would increase by $261 million.
See PDF of the paper here: The Economic Consequences of Pierce’s Disease and Related Policy in the California Winegrape Industry. Julian M. Alston, Kate B. Fuller, Jonathan D. Kaplan and Kabir P. Tumber (2012). RMI-CWE Working Paper number 1202.
