|
Calif. farmers fear spread of apple moth
2007-05-25
Sightings of the light brown apple moth -- which can ruin everything from tomatoes to citrus fruit to alfalfa -- have shot up into the thousands since the insect was first discovered in the San Francisco Bay area three months ago, agriculture officials said Friday. The half-inch moth with an indiscriminate appetite has prompted a federal quarantine, brought together scientists from around the world and worried farmers in California, where agriculture brings in more than $30 billion in revenue a year. Many fear the pesky little moth's habits: chomping on the leaves of more than 250 plants species and ruining crops from the inside out by burrowing when it's in caterpillar form. The quarantine, imposed earlier this month on eight counties in California's north and central coastal areas as well as the entire state of Hawaii, restricts the interstate movement of nursery stock, cut flowers and other plants. The moths usually spread by laying their eggs in nursery plants, or traveling hidden inside fruit or plant clippings. About 80 percent of the moths trapped so far have been in Santa Cruz County, though the first report came in February when a retired entomologist spotted one in his Berkeley backyard. It was fortunate the unremarkable-looking light brown apple moth appeared in the yard of an expert, said Larry Hawkins, a spokesman for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "They look like any old moth," Hawkins said. "The average person wouldn't have been able to differentiate it from a native species." As of Friday, officials have received 3,348 reports of light brown apple moth sightings in the affected California counties, which are Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Contra Costa, San Francisco and Marin. So far, only one of the moths has been spotted outside the quarantined area -- in Napa -- but agriculture officials throughout the state remain vigilant. From the Oregon to the Mexican border, they're setting out sticky traps to catch male moths with pheromones. "None yet," said Sheila Worthley, who works for the agricultural commissioner's office in Merced County. "We're out here every day, though." Last week, federal and state agriculture officials assembled a group of international experts in San Jose to discuss ways to deal with the insect. The scientists from Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia -- where the insect originated -- recommended extermination before the pest spreads out of control. One of the methods that's been successful in doing that is the use of Chlorpyrifos, an insecticide commonly used in nurseries, Hawkins said. The chemical has been the only one found so far to kill the pest at the egg stage, though others can kill larvae and adults. The agency is working on finding alternatives to pesticides, he said. Possible methods include using pheromones to interrupt the moth's mating cycle by confusing the males, or releasing sterile moths, a technique used in California to eradicate another destructive pest, the Mediterranean fruit fly. The USDA agency will take the recommendations by the nine-member panel and create an action plan to take to the state Secretary of Agriculture and federal officials next week for endorsement and the money to carry it out, Hawkins said. "We are trying to move on this quickly, but it will take a few weeks because the sites where moths were found are not uniform. We have urban areas, rural areas," he said. Action can't come soon enough for farmers who fear more than $100 million in damage and the possible rejection of exports. "It likes to eat everything, so that makes everyone worried," said Tony Fazio, who grows, packs and ships table grapes in Fresno County, the nation's top-producing agriculture county. "Everyone stands to lose if it spreads. It'll hurt us all." ___ On the Net: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service: http://www.aphis.usda.gov
|  | | | Profile |
News66 | Gallery | Links | |
| |
|
|
| 
