Europe Edition
California is experiencing an unusually high population of exotic fruit flies this season. The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has issued local quarantine and eradication measures to prevent statewide spread of the Tau Fly and the Oriental Fruit Fly.
From the CDFA website: “Exotic fruit flies are of concern to the agriculture industry in California. The larval (maggot) stage of fruit flies such as Mediterranean Fruit Fly, Mexican Fruit Fly and Oriental Fruit Fly can damage most of the fruits and vegetables grown in our state.”
CDFA and local County Agricultural Commissioners deploy and maintain over 63,000 detection traps statewide just for exotic fruit flies. High numbers of exotic fruit flies identified in traps have spurred pre-emptive efforts by CDFA to collaborate with USDA trapping specialists, a first for California.
Currently, there is no federal-level quarantine for the state. At the local level, active quarantine maps are available for the Tau Fly, which spans the Stevenson Ranch and Valencia areas in Los Angeles County, and the Oriental Fruit Fly, which spans the Brentwood and Santa Clara areas in Southern California.
Western Growers is following the developments of monitoring and eradication efforts of these exotic fruit flies and is awaiting further details from CDFA to report.
For more information:
Western Growers
Tel.: 1-949-863-1000
Email: info@wga.com
