Added the Mexican Fruit Fly Quarantine in San Diego County, CA
Added the Sapote Fruit Fly Quarantine in Cameron, Hidalgo, and Willacy Counties, TX
APHIS restricts the movement of domestic soil from areas within the continental United States that are under quarantine for specific plant pests. The Federal Domestic Soil Quarantines Map provides an overview of the plant pest quarantines that affect the movement of soil.
This map is a general guidance tool only. For specific quarantine information, including quarantine boundaries and the requirements for moving domestic soil, contact your local APHIS State plant health director.
To understand consumers’ attitudes toward a bioengineered pesticide for citrus crops, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources researchers are asking for volunteers to participate in focus groups in Riverside, Oakland and Fresno.
Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, is a naturally occurring bacterium being tested to control the spread of Asian citrus psyllid, the small insect that transmits the disease huanglongbing to citrus trees. Both the Asian citrus psyllid and huanglongbing have been found in Southern California backyard citrus trees and threaten to spread throughout the state.
Huanglongbing, also known as citrus greening disease, is a bacterial infection that stunts citrus trees, reduces their fruit production, deforms and greens the fruit and eventually kills the tree. There is no known cure or effective control.
The disease has already devastated Florida’s citrus industry, slashing the state’s orange production by 92% between 2005 and 2025, according to Karen Jetter, associate director and project economist at the UC ANR Policy Institute. By the time the magnitude of the problem was revealed, both Asian citrus psyllid, or ACP, and huanglongbing were widespread in Florida.
“In California, we still have the opportunity to slow the spread of huanglongbing through ACP management,” Jetter said.“This unique technology is designed to be part of a comprehensive ACP management program, not to replace it.”
Jetter and Fiona Ogunkoya, survey researcher at the UC ANR Policy Institute, are conducting focus groups to assess consumer attitudes toward an engineered Bt pest control method that targets Asian citrus psyllids, the primary vector of the disease, to stop the spread of huanglongbing.
The bioengineered pest control strategy, developed in Florida and shown to be effective, uses an engineered citrus tristeza virus to transmit an engineered Bacillus thuringiensis to citrus trees. The Asian citrus psyllid lays eggs on the tender new leaf growth of the trees. After the nymphs hatch, the immature insects consume the modified Bt-infected leaves, become sick and die.
California citrus growers surveyed by Sandipa Gautam, UC Cooperative Extension integrated pest management citrus advisor, said they are interested in the approach. But they growers are concerned that consumers will not accept fruit grown with this new bioengineered insecticide.
To find out what consumers think, the researchers will meet with three focus groups, with each session limited to six to eight people to allow all participants time to express their thoughts.
The 90-minute focus group meetings will be held at UC Cooperative Extension offices in Riverside on March 30 at 6 p.m., in Oakland on April 6 at 2 p.m. and in Fresno on April 8 at 2 p.m. Pizza will be served.
To participate in a focus group, register for a session at https://forms.gle/QPyUd7QazTLfNdATA. To be eligible, participants must be 18 years of age or older and able to attend the focus group in person. — By UC Agriculture and Natural Resources
Effective March 11, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), is expanding the area quarantined for sweet orange scab (SOS) in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles County in California. SOS is a disease caused by the fungus Elsinöe australis. APHIS is expanding the quarantined area by 80 square miles in Los Angeles County. APHIS is taking this action because of SOS detections in plant tissue samples collected from residential properties in Los Angeles County. This expansion does not impact commercial citrus.
APHIS is applying safeguarding measures outlined in Federal Order DA-2024-34 pertaining to the interstate movement of regulated articles from the quarantined areas in California. This measure parallels the intrastate quarantine that CDFA established on March 2, 2026. This action is necessary to prevent the spread of SOS to non-infested areas of the United States.
The APHIS Sweet Orange Scab website has information on this disease, Federal Orders, APHIS approved packinghouse procedures, and a description of current Federal SOS quarantined areas.
For additional information you may contact:
Abby R. Stilwell
Agriculturalist
(919) 323 -6296
abby.r.stilwell@usda.gov
Matthew A. Rhoads
Acting Deputy Administrator
Plant Protection and Quarantine
Spider mites can be a difficult pest for date growers, especially with how high up in the trees the fruit is. However, new methods of spider mite management are being studied at UC Riverside, including the use of predatory mites. Entomology specialist Bodil Cass spoke with Matthew Malcolm from Malcolm Media Ag Publishing at the World Ag Expo to discuss their findings. Watch this quick video and read more in California Fruit & Vegetable Magazine.
Please thank this video’s sponsor Simplot for their industry support.
Phytophthora-related diseases can ruin citrus through brown rot and cause trees to steadily decline. Researchers UC Riverside are looking at new ways to tackle these diseases, and their work has resulted in three new modes of action that show promise. Professor and Plant Pathologist Jim Adaskaveg spoke with Matthew Malcolm from Malcolm Media Ag Publishing to discuss these new methods. Watch this quick video and learn more in California Fruit & Vegetable Magazine.
Please thank this video’s sponsor Simplot for their industry support.
A screenshot of the risk-based survey for detecting huanglongbing (HLB) in Southern California. Colors represent the probability of HLB establishment or development, ranging from low risk (blue, near 0.0) to high risk (red, near 1.0). (Image provided by Weiqi Luo, North Carolina State University)
Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as citrus greening, is the most devasting disease of citrus worldwide and has cost billions of dollars in economic losses. HLB has severely affected the citrus industry in Florida before any remedial action could be taken by growers. In California, HLB has been reported in urban backyard citrus trees that are a potential source of the pathogen. These infected backyard citrus trees threaten surrounding commercial citrus groves.
ARS researchers in Fort Pierce, FL, and their research partners developed a refined risk-based survey (RBS) to help stakeholders survey for HLB in complex urban and suburban landscapes in Southern California. The RBS is being used by the citrus stakeholders and plant health regulators to identify and remove infected trees, which will help preserve the health of nearby citrus groves. Use of the model optimizes survey efforts and allocation of resources to combat HLB. The RBS is also updated with new detection data and refined continuously to better guide surveillance of HLB in Southern California. An online interface makes the most recent survey available to stakeholders.
A new strain of fusarium wilt has been detected in lettuce, putting crops in danger. Researchers at UC Riverside are exploring new ways to combat this potentially devastating fungal disease. Alexander Putman spoke at the World Ag Expo in Tulare and with Matthew Malcolm from Malcolm Media Ag Publishing to discuss the issue. Watch this quick video and learn more in California Fruit & Vegetable Magazine.
Please thank this video’s sponsor Simplot for their industry support.
The Asian citrus psyllid is an active threat for growers and the main vector for Huanglongbing disease. These invasive insects have wreaked havoc in Florida and spread to Southern California, but researchers at UC Riverside are finding ways to counter them. Matthew Malcolm from Malcolm Media Ag Publishing interviewed Bodil Cass at the World Ag Expo to discuss the use of predators against psyllids. Watch this quick video and read more in California Fruit & Vegetable Magazine.
Please thank this video’s sponsor Simplot for their industry support.
A much-anticipated research project on the deadly citrus disease huanglongbing, commonly referred to as “citrus greening” is coming to fruition, marked by the start of another harvest of a key citrus grove in Fort Pierce.
Harvest on the Millennium Block project, a seven-year University of Florida research project is underway, and researchers will use the data collected from fruit harvested from 2022 to 2026 to analyze how much these potential solutions offer farmers hope against citrus greening, with results expected later this year.
The damaging crop disease has decimated Florida orange and grapefruit groves, reducing production across all citrus-growing regions, reaching over 80% of the state’s citrus, and the Millennium Block was envisioned as a place where bold risks could be taken in the fight against citrus greening. The Millennium Block, which was planted at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Science’s (UF/IFAS) Indian River Research and Education Center (IRREC), in 2019, is now a 5,000-tree research project with trees that were bred to be tolerant to citrus greening, said Flavia Zambon, assistant professor of citrus production at UF/IFAS IRREC.
Citrus greening remains one of the most destructive challenges facing Florida’s citrus industry. Spread by a tiny bug called a psyllid, the bacterium that causes the disease attacks trees from the inside out, reducing fruit quality, yield and ultimately killing entire groves. Infected trees produce smaller, misshapen and bitter, green fruit – if they produce any at all. The disease spreads quickly through the flying insects, making containment difficult once a grove is infected.
“Citrus greening is a fundamental threat to the Florida citrus industry, and we’re eager to see the results of this long-awaited research trial to see what options we can suggest for farmers for greening-tolerant citrus varieties,” Zambon said.
The Millennium Block includes various citrus varieties in four research trials, one including 18 grapefruits and three commercial rootstocks, and the other three with 32 rootstocks grafted with Ray Ruby grapefruit, Glenn Navel sweet orange and UF-950 mandarin.
Harvest will continue through early February, and citrus will be pulled and juiced to be tested for physical marketable qualities, such as size, and juice quality attributes, such as sugar concentration and acidity, which affect the price that growers can expect to receive for their fruit.
“There are all these attributes that need to be in balance for both growers and consumers,” Zambon said.
In addition, they will evaluate the amount of market-quality citrus grown, both by the amount of fruit and by the total weight.
Researchers also used drones to evaluate the health of the Millennium Block’s trees and to see if there is a correlation between canopy size and the amount of fruit it produced – another potential predictive tool for farmers.
Harvest of the citrus fields at the Millennium Block at UF/IFAS has begun, and the fruit and juice from the harvest will be evaluated for their marketable qualities. Photo Credit: UF/IFAS, Joe McQueen.
ABOUT UF/IFAS The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS brings science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents.
Harvest of the citrus fields at the Millennium Block at UF/IFAS has begun, and the fruit and juice from the harvest will be evaluated for their marketable qualities. Photo Credit: UF/IFAS, Joe McQueen.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) expanded the Santa Clara Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata; Medfly) quarantine in Alameda and Santa Clara Counties, California. This action parallels the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) expansion of the Santa Clara Medfly quarantine published on January 2.
APHIS and CDFA expanded the Santa Clara Medfly quarantine following the confirmed detection on December 17 of one wild male Medfly from a trap in on a residential property in an orange tree in Milpitas, Santa Clara County. This action expanded the quarantine by 17 square miles and does not include additional commercial agriculture. The amended quarantine encompasses 241 square miles with 58.76 acres of commercial agriculture, including grape, olive, orange, pepper, stone fruit, and tomato.
APHIS is applying safeguarding measures and restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles to prevent the spread of Medfly to non-infested areas of the United States, as well as to prevent the entry of these fruit flies into foreign trade. APHIS is working with CDFA and the Agricultural Commissioners of Alameda and Santa Clara Counties to eradicate this transient fruit fly population following program guidelines for survey, treatment, and regulatory actions
The APHIS Exotic Fruit Flies website contains descriptions and maps of all current Federal fruit fly quarantine areas. APHIS will publish a notice of this change in the Federal Register. —USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
