BREAKING NEWS 
From Tulare County

Gavin Iacono, Deputy Ag Commissioner Tulare county, overseeing Standards and Quarantines, notes that the state is waiting for the USDA sign-off on a new plan that proposes five-mile quarantines around the two blunder trap sites where six Asian Citrus Psyllids were found June 25-26.

The quarantines would overlap each other since the traps were about two miles apart.

Iacono said this is a proposed change from earlier quarantine protocols. “Originally all quarantines were county-wide, and the USDA, with justification, shrunk it down to a 20-mile radius. Now the state is proposing a five-mile radius, which is a big change of what it has been in the past,” he said.

No fruit can move out of the quarantine areas unless it has been treated and/or free of stems and leaves.

In the proposal, the state is going to require preharvest spray treatments not only for the proposed quarantines in Porterville but for all active ACP quarantine areas in the state.

There will also be an 800-meter eradication zone in place around each site. “What this means is that all citrus within 800 meters around the trap sites must be treated with control sprays,” Iacono said.

“Quarantines are automatically for two years. Within the two years, if nothing is found, the quarantine will be lifted. But no ACP quarantine in California has ever been lifted. We have been close, but then we find something just before the quarantine can be lifted,” Iacono said.

“On June 17, 2013, the state lifted a restricted zone in the Strathmore area following ACP trappings in mid-November 2012. And now, not a month later, we trapped more ACP in the nearby Porterville area,” Iacono said.

Based on science, the new finds are suspected to be more serious due to the possibility of a breeding population in the area. “But we are not able to find it. This is why there are mandatory spray programs in place,” said Iacono.

Officials are not sure why inspectors are finding the ACP in commercial orchard areas in the Valley. “In southern California, they first found the Psyllid in the urban area, and then it spread out from there into the commercial areas. In the Valley we keep finding it in the commercial areas,” Iacono said. 

“Intense inspections of traps in the City of Porterville, so far, have found no Psyllids. In fact, inspectors surveyed more than 300 residential properties yesterday and did not find anything,” noted Iacono.

Inspectors are fanning through orchards with white beat sheets that have been sprayed with soapy water. They beat branches three times and observe anything that falls on the white sheet. Because the inspectors are trained, they can quickly determine if a Psyllid has fallen on the sheet. The water holds what falls in place on the sheet. After each inspection, the water is wiped off and reapplied for the next inspection.

Many of these crews are coming up from Southern California where they have been doing this extensively for the past five years.

Iacono said that nurseries are also going to be affected in the quarantine area. “Unless it’s under a screened area, the nursery stock cannot be moved out of the restricted area. There are several small nurseries in the area, and one very large nursery that has part of its operation under screens,” Iacono said.  “And you also have the nursery centers at the Home Depot and Lowes locations that will be affected.  The state will begin to put Hold Notices on all citrus trees in nurseries that are not under screens.”

It’s important that everyone inspect his or her trees for the ACP. If you find it, act fast. Time is critical.

The ACP Hotline number is (800) 491-1899.

Town Hall events bring together members across the supply chain, state officials and allied industry professionals to learn more about and provide a forum to discuss key issues including legislative, food safety, regulatory, traceability, nutrition, new market development, along with regional and commodity-specific issues that impact the produce industry.

United Fresh staff returns from these Regional Town Hall Meetings with great insight on the challenges faced by member operations and how United Fresh can best serve the needs of our membership.

Town Hall events are complimentary for both members and non-members, and lunch is provided.

For more information on Town Hall events, or to offer to host a Town Hall in your area, please contact Jeff Oberman, vice president of membership and trade relations, at 831-600-8922 or joberman@unitedfresh.org, or Miriam 
Wolk, Vice President of Membership & Marketing, at 202-303-3410 or mwolk@unitedfresh.org.

The schedule: 

 Aug. 8, Visalia, Calif.; hosted by California Grape & Tree Fruit League and California Citrus Mutual.

Aug. 9, Salinas, Calif.; hosted by Grower-Shipper Association of Central California.

More information on Fresh Impact Tour locations, as well as town hall registration options, is on the United Fresh website.

The Delta Water Summit will be held on August 3, 2013 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Fresno State’s Satellite Student Union. The Summit is intended for farmers and the community as a whole to hear what’s going on from key legislators, administration (state and federal) and water agencies.

“What’s going on?” asks Mario Santoyo, Organizer of the Summit and Director of The California Latino Water Coalition, an organization dedicated expressly to helping constructively craft solutions to California’s water crisis and ensure that our state’s vital water supply needs are met now and in the future. Although formed as a voice for Latinos, the Coalition is a positive force benefitting all Californians.

“If I am a farmer, and I am having difficulty getting my water for farming, I would want to know—what people are doing?” said Santoyo. “This is an opportunity to bring all the key players to Fresno and give the community a chance to ask these types of questions.”

“There is no question this is an emergency situation now,” Santoyo clarified. “We constantly hear about the long-term solutions including the twin tunnels, but they won’t be built for ten years.”

“If I am a farmer today, struggling, and I hear that next year we’ll may have zero water allocation, or even ten or twenty percent, coupled with the current bad year, I am probably looking at going out of business,” warned Santoyo.

“I want to know what are our legislators are doing to help us find a solution for tomorrow,” Santoyo commented. “Our legislators can get focused, work in a bipartisan way and encourage their other colleagues to get involved. The key thought here is that they have to find a way to work together. I think our Valley legislators, for the most part, have been successful in that regard, but we have to be more successful.”

“I think it is important for all of us, in general, to get to a point to where we all know what we need to do, agree on how we are going to do it, and then work together to try to make it happen,” noted  Santoyo.

“If we don’t reach a temporary, interim solution within the next two to three months, we are guaranteed to have a crisis next year,” warned Santoyo. “So, we need to be doing something, and it needs to be now.”

Today Gavin Iacono, Deputy Commissioner/Sealer, Standards & Quarantine, Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer Office, commented on the invasive find on Citrus Psyllid in Porterville and the possibility of a quarantine.

Iacono said that the State and USDA were still waiting to determine if they have met the criteria to decide if there is an infestation.

Adult Asian Citrus Psyllid Feeds on Citrus, with immature nymphs nearby.

“These government agencies are not currently requesting growers to spray; they are not requiring growers to do anything.”

Yet, growers are concerned this can be a newly established population.

“The State and USDA are doing limitations around these refined sites,” explained Iacono. “In other words, there are 100 traps per square mile in the delineated section—one mile around each find site. In this core area, they check traps daily.”

“Outside that,” Iacono continued, “in the surrounding eight-square-mile-area, they set up 50 traps per square mile and check them every other day.”

Iacono remarked, “They’ve actually been checking these on yellow sticky traps, or blunder traps, for the last four or five days, through the weekend, and so far they’ve found nothing.”

“This is good news,” said Iacono.

The problem used to be in the foothills, but now marijuana growers are sourcing out areas on the Valley floor to plant the illegal crop for very high profits.

Manuel Cunha, President of Nisei Farmers League, Fresno.

Recently, marijuana has been found on rangelands on the West Side. Furthermore, a high profile bust happened in southeast Fresno where the crop was planted among two acres in a carved-out area of a cornfield. During the raid by the Fresno County Sheriff Department, a suspect, a reputed gang member, was found with a gunshot wound, after an exchange of gunfire from a vehicle that had apparently just sped by the scene.

These fields are linked to medical marijuana cards and fields under cultivation, but the Sheriff Department notes that there is far more marijuana being produced than the approved permits.

“Farmers are at risk with the marijuana growers on their land,” said Manuel Cunha, president of the Nisei Farmers League in Fresno.  “Farmers could be considered suspects for a short time until more evidence is gathered, and at the same time, they could be in danger if they were to wander up on the field. The Feds can take the land away from the owner if they feel that the owner is involved,” Cunha said. “The Feds will sell the land and then put the money into the DEA program.”

Cunha said another major problem is human trafficking. “Many farmworkers must be let go from farms due to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) audits. The farmworkers who have lost their jobs hear that people are looking for workers, but there is no mention of marijuana. Instead, marijuana growers tell the workers they are being hired for maintaining irrigation and a drip system,” noted Cunha.  “Low and behold, workers find out they are dealing with marijuana growers; and the growers threaten to harm both the workers and their families if they do not stay on the farm and work.”

Again, the pot growers will eventually move back up into the hills as authorities keep busting them up on the valley floor. “Then the hills become dangerous to cattle grazers and backpackers in the area,” Cunha said.