Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Washington State University received a $180,000 Project Grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), CFDA 10.310, effective July 15, 2026, through July 14, 2029. The grant supports research addressing beet leafhopper (Circulifer tenellus) transmission of plant pathogens—specifically Beet Curly Top Virus (BCTV) and Candidatus Phytoplasma Trifolii (CPT)—that cause significant losses in vegetable, seed, and fiber crops across the western United States. The project will deliver three primary outputs: (1) pest monitoring and molecular assessment tools to quantify leafhopper-transmitted pathogen prevalence across plant hosts; (2) host-use characterization and pathogen prevalence mapping across Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado using molecular gut content analysis; and (3) predictive decision support tools to forecast vector-borne pathogen risk across diverse western ecosystems.

The research aims to provide farmers with practical, evidence-based pest management tools that reduce unnecessary pesticide applications, lower production costs, and minimize crop losses while supporting more sustainable agricultural practices. By establishing a collaborative sampling network to analyze leafhopper populations, pathogens, and host plant use, the project will generate landscape-scale data on environmental conditions and host plant relationships affecting pathogen prevalence. These outputs will directly address the AFRI priority area of Plant Health and Production, contributing to improved economic stability for agricultural communities and reduced environmental impacts across the broader agricultural sector.