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Quarantine’s Impact Worries Farmers

Quarantine’s Impact Worries Farmers

Several Valley Center Crops Are Vulnerable To the Mexican Fruit Fly

BY LEE ZION

Staff Writer

VALLEY CENTER , Al Stehley was on vacation when he got the bad news. Mexican fruit flies were discovered in his groves, and much of his crop had to be destroyed to wipe out the pest.

His citrus trees and avocado groves in Valley Center were the first to fall victim to the Mexican fruit fly Nov. 21, costing him about $100,000 so far. But more insects have been found, prompting state and federal officials to declare a quarantine Dec. 5 on much of North County’s agriculture , San Diego County’s fourth largest industry, at $1.29 billion.

The quarantine takes in 117 square miles east of Interstate 15, roughly from Deer Springs Road to the Riverside County line. That affects about 1,000 growers and about $75 million in crops, said Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau.

The last time the Mexican fruit fly was found in San Diego County was in 1999, when it turned up in Fallbrook. That led to a quarantine of roughly 72 square miles, which cost farmers about $3.5 million in crops that never got to market, plus millions more spent eradicating the pest, he said.

The main crops grown in Valley Center include avocados and citrus, with some persimmons, pomegranates and other subtropical fruit. All are vulnerable to the Mexican fruit fly, Larson said.

Stehly remembers his reaction when he heard his groves were infested.

“I sat down and thought, ‘We have a big problem.’ I immediately realized that my fate was sealed,” he said. “When they find the fly on your property, you have no options.”

Worse still, crop insurance won’t cover losses due to quarantine, so that leaves him with a cash flow problem until his next avocado crop is ready , once the quarantine expires in August, Stehly said.

“I have no money to pay next month’s water bill , from now until July,” he said.

Stehly got lucky because he happened to apply for a loan just before he went on vacation. That loan came through and will help get him through the next few months, he said.

Stehly added that the fruit fly got a chance to get established because federal and state regulators haven’t looked for the insect in agricultural areas. Most of the funding has concentrated on urban centers.

Stehly hopes to persuade the federal and state government to provide more funding for trapping flies in rural areas. He’s talked this need over with 5th District Supervisor Bill Horn, who also is a close neighbor.

Horn has responded to the crisis not only as a supervisor, but also as a grower inside the quarantine area.

“This is the worst infestation in the county’s history,” he said. “We have a serious economic disaster on our hands.”

Quarantine signs were placed along some roads, even before the boundaries had been established. Supervisors met with officials from the county Department of Agriculture, Weights & Measures and state agriculture officials as they set out to draw the boundary.

Horn also plans to create a task force working with state officials and congressional representatives to seek more funds to detect fruit flies in rural areas, he said.

As a grower, Horn has adopted a wait-and-see approach. His orange and tangelo crops will not last through the quarantine, because they ripen too soon, but his avocados probably will survive, he said.

A total of 58 adult fruit flies and some larvae have been found as of Dec. 4, said Jay Van Rein, spokesman for the California Department of Food & Agriculture.

Although all the flies have been within 2.5 miles of each other, the actual quarantine area would be much larger. Van Rein declined to speculate on the boundaries, but said they wouldn’t be much larger than during the 1999 quarantine in Fallbrook.

Van Rein also declined to discuss how much the quarantine would cost local farmers, since that depends on the size of the area, once it’s established.

State officials are now conducting tests to determine if the affected area is growing. The tests are similar to work undertaken before the boundary was officially established, Van Rein said.

Workers from the California Conservation Corps are stripping fruit off trees in the affected area. These fruit are then buried so the adult fruit flies can’t escape to mate, he said.

Growers are also spraying trees with malathion, under supervision from either federal, state or county officials. Rein hopes to gain approval for widespread treatment with Spinosad, an organic pesticide, later this week, Van Rein said.

Top 10 AG products in San Diego County

1. Nursery Products $855M

2. Avocados* 138.6

3. Citrus* 65.7

4. Eggs 48.7

5. Tomatoes 30.5

6. Herbs 21.1

7. Strawberries 20.9

8. Milk 17.5

9. Mushrooms 16.9

10. Cattle 14.9

All Others** 61.2

*Crops vulnerable to fruit fly infestation

**There are about 240 other crops in San Diego County. Of these, some are vulnerable to fruit fly infestation, while others are not.

Source: San Diego County Farm Bureau

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