Fruit fly finds in Fresno trigger quarantine
Fruit fly finds in Fresno trigger quarantine
As a result of finding six fruit flies within a three-mile radius, agricultural officials have established a quarantine zone in California's Fresno County that will adversely affect at least 500 acres of fresh figs.
"The bad news is that it impacts 5 percent of our crop," said Richard Matoian, manager of the California Fig Advisory Board. "The good news is that it is only 5 percent."
Speaking with The Produce News Tuesday, May 23, Mr. Matoian said that state and federal agricultural officials were going to take a few more days before officially confirming the quarantine boundaries, but the area in question is mostly residential with no commercial acreage other than the figs.
Blair Richardson of the California Tree Fruit Agreement in Reedley, CA, confirmed that there is no stone fruit acreage in the suspected quarantine zone. In addition, he said that since the last fly find on Saturday, May 20, all the traps had been checked in the areas where there is commercial acreage and no further finds were made. Over the previous week, traps in a couple of contiguous residential sections of Fresno had turned up six Southeast Asian fruit flies and one Guava fruit fly. Mr. Richardson said that the good news is that those flies are fairly easy to eradicate and the regular pest control management practices in a conventionally grown field or orchard would most likely take care of any outbreak. He said that it appears as if the flies came directly from Asia via fruit hand-carried by the public.
At press time (May 25), state and federal agricultural officials were establishing a protocol to deal with the pest. For the residential areas involved, it is expected to be fairly non-intrusive. But for the dozen or so fig growers producing on those 500 acres, it will have a major impact. Mr. Matoian said that while only about 10 percent of the state's fig production is destined for the fresh market, typically about 70 percent of the production in Fresno County is earmarked for fresh production.
Fresno County's fig acreage has declined significantly in recent years as new housing development has replaced most of the orchards. "This is the last of the acreage in Fresno County," said the Fig Advisory Board executive. "There are less than 1,000 acres in Fresno compared to 9,000 in Madera."
But as fate would have it, much of the Fresno acreage is prepared for the fresh market, which means the fruit fly protocol will come into play. Mr. Matoian said that growers receive a significant premium for fresh fruit vs. processed, so the affected growers were still weighing their options. It will be more costly to spray the expected four times to eradicate the pest, but the extra cost may be worth it if the fresh market is hot. Growers will also have to wait 30 days before they can market that fruit. Mr. Matoian expects some of the growers to opt to send their fruit to processors and produce dried figs, rendering the spraying protocols moot.
Regardless of what these affected growers do with their fruit, Mr. Matoian said that the marketplace will not be adversely affected. "This is not good news for those growers, but I am certain other growers will divert some of their fruit [previously destined for the processed market] to the fresh market to fill the void."
"The bad news is that it impacts 5 percent of our crop," said Richard Matoian, manager of the California Fig Advisory Board. "The good news is that it is only 5 percent."
Speaking with The Produce News Tuesday, May 23, Mr. Matoian said that state and federal agricultural officials were going to take a few more days before officially confirming the quarantine boundaries, but the area in question is mostly residential with no commercial acreage other than the figs.
Blair Richardson of the California Tree Fruit Agreement in Reedley, CA, confirmed that there is no stone fruit acreage in the suspected quarantine zone. In addition, he said that since the last fly find on Saturday, May 20, all the traps had been checked in the areas where there is commercial acreage and no further finds were made. Over the previous week, traps in a couple of contiguous residential sections of Fresno had turned up six Southeast Asian fruit flies and one Guava fruit fly. Mr. Richardson said that the good news is that those flies are fairly easy to eradicate and the regular pest control management practices in a conventionally grown field or orchard would most likely take care of any outbreak. He said that it appears as if the flies came directly from Asia via fruit hand-carried by the public.
At press time (May 25), state and federal agricultural officials were establishing a protocol to deal with the pest. For the residential areas involved, it is expected to be fairly non-intrusive. But for the dozen or so fig growers producing on those 500 acres, it will have a major impact. Mr. Matoian said that while only about 10 percent of the state's fig production is destined for the fresh market, typically about 70 percent of the production in Fresno County is earmarked for fresh production.
Fresno County's fig acreage has declined significantly in recent years as new housing development has replaced most of the orchards. "This is the last of the acreage in Fresno County," said the Fig Advisory Board executive. "There are less than 1,000 acres in Fresno compared to 9,000 in Madera."
But as fate would have it, much of the Fresno acreage is prepared for the fresh market, which means the fruit fly protocol will come into play. Mr. Matoian said that growers receive a significant premium for fresh fruit vs. processed, so the affected growers were still weighing their options. It will be more costly to spray the expected four times to eradicate the pest, but the extra cost may be worth it if the fresh market is hot. Growers will also have to wait 30 days before they can market that fruit. Mr. Matoian expects some of the growers to opt to send their fruit to processors and produce dried figs, rendering the spraying protocols moot.
Regardless of what these affected growers do with their fruit, Mr. Matoian said that the marketplace will not be adversely affected. "This is not good news for those growers, but I am certain other growers will divert some of their fruit [previously destined for the processed market] to the fresh market to fill the void."
