Medfly gone from California borders, but new Oriental fruit fly quarantine announced
Medfly gone from California borders, but new Oriental fruit fly quarantine announced
Recent weeks have brought good news and bad news with regard to agriculture pests in California as an Oriental fruit fly infestation was announced less than two weeks after the Mediterranean fruit fly was declared eradicated from the state.
A joint release from the California Department of Food & Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Aug. 14 that the Medfly had been eradicated and that quarantines in place since 2007 in parts of Santa Clara, Solano and Los Angeles counties were being lifted.
"At present, there are no remaining Medfly infestations in the state," the release said.
"The Medfly is a pest that poses a serious threat to California agriculture," CDFA Secretary A.G. Kawamura said in the release. "I would like to thank the residents and growers who helped us eradicate these infestations by cooperating with the three quarantines."
The Medfly can infest more than 260 types of fruits and vegetables, and CDFA estimated that a permanent infestation "would result in estimated annual losses of $1.3 billion to $1.8 billion."
The quarantine in Selano County covered a 114-square-mile area in the vicinity of Dixon, an agricultural area midway between Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area. Solano County crops include processing tomatoes, wine grapes, almonds, walnuts and dried plums as well as small acreages of various fresh-market fruit and vegetable crops.
The Santa Clara County quarantine covered 75 square miles of a mostly urban area on the east side of San Jose, and the Los Angeles County quarantine covered 103 square miles in the Rolling Hills and Rancho Palos Verdes area. "The Medfly quarantine had been in place roughly 10 months," Steve Lyle, public affairs officer with CDFA, said in a telephone interview with The Produce News Aug. 27. The three Medfly infestations were all discovered within a period of a few weeks.
Eradication was successfully achieved through the release of millions of sterile Medflies each week.
"We have had so few Medfly infestations since 1996 when we introduced the sterile release project in Southern California that having three at once certainly had our attention," said Mr. Lyle. "But we were fortunate that we didn't detect any more. That would have split our resources even further. We were able to establish the quarantine and eradicate just as effectively as we have been able to do historically."
CDFA declared a new quarantine Aug. 26, this one covering 75 square miles in the Lakewood area of Los Angeles County, after eight adult Oriental fruit flies were detected in the vicinity.
"We don't have a sterile program available yet for Oriental fruit flies," said Mr. Lyle. Instead, "we use a male attractant approach" in which a minute amount of pesticide is mixed with the attractant and applied in small quantities to utility poles.
"CDFA has been using this technique for more than 30 years. It has a 100 percent success rate in California, never failing to eradicate a fruit fly infestation," according to an Aug. 26 CDFA release.
The Oriental fruit fly can infest more than 230 types of fruits and vegetables "and, like many invasive species, poses a severe threat to the food supply," the release said.
Oriental fruit fly infestations are "almost an annual thing," Mr. Lyle said. "Oriental fruit fly quarantines are something we deal with most years."
A joint release from the California Department of Food & Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Aug. 14 that the Medfly had been eradicated and that quarantines in place since 2007 in parts of Santa Clara, Solano and Los Angeles counties were being lifted.
"At present, there are no remaining Medfly infestations in the state," the release said.
"The Medfly is a pest that poses a serious threat to California agriculture," CDFA Secretary A.G. Kawamura said in the release. "I would like to thank the residents and growers who helped us eradicate these infestations by cooperating with the three quarantines."
The Medfly can infest more than 260 types of fruits and vegetables, and CDFA estimated that a permanent infestation "would result in estimated annual losses of $1.3 billion to $1.8 billion."
The quarantine in Selano County covered a 114-square-mile area in the vicinity of Dixon, an agricultural area midway between Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area. Solano County crops include processing tomatoes, wine grapes, almonds, walnuts and dried plums as well as small acreages of various fresh-market fruit and vegetable crops.
The Santa Clara County quarantine covered 75 square miles of a mostly urban area on the east side of San Jose, and the Los Angeles County quarantine covered 103 square miles in the Rolling Hills and Rancho Palos Verdes area. "The Medfly quarantine had been in place roughly 10 months," Steve Lyle, public affairs officer with CDFA, said in a telephone interview with The Produce News Aug. 27. The three Medfly infestations were all discovered within a period of a few weeks.
Eradication was successfully achieved through the release of millions of sterile Medflies each week.
"We have had so few Medfly infestations since 1996 when we introduced the sterile release project in Southern California that having three at once certainly had our attention," said Mr. Lyle. "But we were fortunate that we didn't detect any more. That would have split our resources even further. We were able to establish the quarantine and eradicate just as effectively as we have been able to do historically."
CDFA declared a new quarantine Aug. 26, this one covering 75 square miles in the Lakewood area of Los Angeles County, after eight adult Oriental fruit flies were detected in the vicinity.
"We don't have a sterile program available yet for Oriental fruit flies," said Mr. Lyle. Instead, "we use a male attractant approach" in which a minute amount of pesticide is mixed with the attractant and applied in small quantities to utility poles.
"CDFA has been using this technique for more than 30 years. It has a 100 percent success rate in California, never failing to eradicate a fruit fly infestation," according to an Aug. 26 CDFA release.
The Oriental fruit fly can infest more than 230 types of fruits and vegetables "and, like many invasive species, poses a severe threat to the food supply," the release said.
Oriental fruit fly infestations are "almost an annual thing," Mr. Lyle said. "Oriental fruit fly quarantines are something we deal with most years."
