Release No. 0165.96

                                     Tom Amontree  (202) 720-4623
                                               tamontree@udsa.gov
                                       Beth Hulse  (301) 734-7280
                                            bhulse@aphis.usda.gov

USDA ANNOUNCES CROP DESTRUCTION ORDERS IN NEW MEXICO AND TEXAS FOR KARNAL
  BUNT-INFECTED PREMISES

     WASHINGTON, April 1, 1996--The U.S. Department of Agriculture today
announced crop destruction orders for farming operations infected with Karnal
bunt in New Mexico and Texas, approximately 4,000 acres.  

     Farming operations that comply with the emergency action order and plow
their wheat crops down may be eligible to receive compensation.  USDA will use
the funding available under the declaration of emergency, which Secretary of
Agriculture Dan Glickman announced on March 28, to compensate producers. 
USDA's Chief Economist Office has determined that compensation for crop
destruction in New Mexico and Texas would be appropriate at a rate of $275 an
acre plus $25 an acre for plowing.  Producers who receive compensation under
the declaration of emergency may not be eligible for crop insurance indemnity. 

     On March 8, Karnal bunt--a serious fungal disease of wheat, durum wheat,
and triticale, which is a hybrid of wheat and rye--was detected in Arizona
during a routine varietal certification inspection conducted by the Arizona
Department of Agriculture.  The disease was found in three seedlots that had
been grown in Arizona and shipped within Arizona, as well as to New Mexico and
Texas.  Karnal bunt affects both yield and grain quality, but does not present
a risk to human health.

     On March 21, Secretary Glickman announced an extraordinary emergency for
Karnal bunt, which provides USDA with the ability to take a wide range of
actions within states to control and eradicate the outbreak.

     "These plowdown orders are necessary to prevent the spread of Karnal
bunt into noninfected areas of the United States and to help protect our
export markets," said Don Husnik, deputy administrator of plant protection and
quarantine with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a part of
USDA's marketing and regulatory programs mission area.

     APHIS, in cooperation with state agriculural officials in Texas,
Arizona, and New Mexico, is continuing to conduct surveys and establish
regulatory controls and other activities necessary to protect wheat production
areas of the United States.

     "We are still evaluating the situation in Arizona and will make a
decision shortly," said Husnik.

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