San Diego County will contract with the state of California to provide more than $1 million for high-risk pest inspection and enforcement.
The increased inspection will be done to help protect the county’s $1.2 billion agricultural industry and its estimated 10,000 employees.
County Supervisor Bill Horn made the announcement May 9.
“If these additional inspection teams had been in place during 1999, we may have been able to avoid the Mexican fruit fly disaster that ruined millions of dollars of crops and quarantined portions of northern San Diego County,” Horn said.
The close proximity to Mexico, population growth and increased volumes of traffic, imports and commerce all make San Diego particularly vulnerable, he noted.
Inspections on incoming plant shipments, plants and soil samples will be stepped up by 50 percent, while parcels shipped by UPS, Federal Express and the U.S. Postal Service will be subject to tighter scrutiny, he said.
“I’m glad that we are tackling the agricultural pest problem full force. Being on the offensive with an ounce of prevention is cheaper than eradicating an infestation problem with spraying, crop detection and quarantining,” he said.
