California Fruit and Vegetable

Tag: APHIS

  • Citrus Greening Quarantine Expands in Southern California

    Effective immediately, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), is expanding the area quarantined for citrus greening (Huanglongbing), caused by the Asian citrus psyllid, in California. APHIS is establishing a new quarantined area in the Ramona area of San Diego County of 93 square miles and is expanding the quarantined area in the Loma Linda area of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties by 26 square miles. These measures parallel the intrastate quarantines that CDFA established on March 2, and March 6, 2026, respectively. APHIS is taking this action because of citrus greening detections in plant tissue samples collected from residential properties. There are 25.16 acres of commercial citrus impacted by the new Ramona quarantine and 411.47 acres of commercial citrus impacted by the Loma Linda area expansion.

    APHIS is applying safeguarding measures outlined in 7 CFR 301.76 and Federal Orders pertaining to the interstate movement of regulated articles from the quarantined areas in California. This action is necessary to prevent the spread of citrus greening to non-infested areas of the United States.

    The APHIS Citrus Greening webpage contains specific changes to the quarantined areas in California. APHIS will publish a notice of this change in the Federal Register.

  • APHIS Posts Updated Quarantine Map

    APHIS updated the Federal Domestic Soil Quarantines Map to include the following changes:

    • 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.

  • APHIS Expands Mediterranean Fruit Fly Quarantine in California

    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

  • USDA to Protect Hundreds of Crops from Invasive Fruit Flies

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has released “Fruit Fly Exclusion and Detection Program Fiscal Years 2024-2028 Strategy.” APHIS worked with members of the National Plant Board to develop a unified roadmap for USDA and its partners to protect American agriculture from the threat of invasive fruit flies and measure our progress along the way.

    “The United States is experiencing an unusually high number of invasive fruit fly detections – the worst of its kind in 70 years,” said Mark Davidson, USDA APHIS Deputy Administrator for the Plant Protection and Quarantine program. “Invasive fruit flies are a nuisance that drive up costs of producing fresh fruits and vegetables, which can hurt both producers and consumers. Our five-year plan lays out how Federal and State partners can continue to limit the flies’ spread as we further scientific research that will help us develop better pest management tools and options.”

    The five-year strategy prioritizes strengthening the following goals for fruit flies of regulatory significance:

    • Domestic surveillance to support early detection.
    • Management and emergency response to ensure timely mitigation.
    • Targeted and effective sterile insect technique for preventive release and eradication programs (assuring rearing facilities are maintained for efficiency and safety).
    • International and import efforts to mitigate against the introduction and spread of invasive fruit flies in the United States.

    To address the unprecedented outbreaks of exotic fruit flies, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently released $103.5 million from the Commodity Credit Corporation to fund APHIS’ supplementary emergency response activities. These funds allow APHIS to reach beyond what the agency’s appropriated funding would be able to accomplish over the next few years.

    Currently, there are exotic fruit fly quarantines in eight counties in California and five counties in New York. The California Department of Food and Agriculture and APHIS have established parallel quarantines and are working with the State’s agricultural commissioners to eradicate and prevent the statewide spread of the Queensland fruit fly, Tau fruit fly, Mediterranean fruit fly, and Oriental fruit fly in California. APHIS is also working with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets to manage the European cherry fruit fly in upstate New York.

    Invasive fruit flies feed on over 400 crops, including citrus and other fruits, nuts, vegetables, and berries. Fruit flies can damage fruits and vegetables when they lay their eggs under the skin of the produce. There, developing larvae make the fruits and vegetables unfit for human consumption. Infested produce may not look damaged from the outside but may take on a brown, mottled appearance as the larvae feed from the inside. Resources to combat invasive fruit fly threats are limited, so developing an efficient strategy to manage or eradicate invasive fruit flies is critical.

    To reduce the spread, APHIS and affected states will work together to reduce, and to the extent possible, prevent human-assisted movement. Together, we will also promote public reporting to encourage early detection, and we will leverage the latest research and management tools available. The 5-Year Strategy drives Federal and State responders to explore new population suppression technologies, such as male annihilation technique, mass trapping, and the development of new and/or improved sterile fruit fly strains. Integrating these new technologies into the inter-agency response to invasive fruit flies will help improve the program’s efficiency.

    The new strategy also builds the capacity to combat invasive fruit flies in areas at high risk of introduction and will leverage the public’s assistance to prevent further spread of these damaging agricultural pests.

    Federal and State partners will also unite their research resources and share knowledge about fruit flies to limit their movement and distribution. While leveraging best practices in the field, State and Federal partners will prioritize more research on climate and host-plant suitability, as well as other effective management tools.

    Federal and state fruit fly quarantines do not extend into Tribal lands, but the invasive fruit flies could impact Tribal communities near the quarantine areas. APHIS consulted with Tribes on the five-year strategy in August 2023 and will continue to engage Tribes and solicit feedback on the fruit fly management and outreach strategy.

  • Pathway Risk Assessments and Potential Regulatory Options for Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV)

    USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is issuing a Stakeholder Registry announcement to solicit public comment on two pathway risk assessments and three potential regulatory policy options for Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) in fresh tomato and pepper fruit for consumption and plant propagative material (including seeds).

    To safeguard U.S. agriculture against the introduction of the virus into the United States, APHIS issued a Federal Order effective on November 22, 2019, to restrict the importation of tomato and pepper fruit and plant propagative material, such as plants intended for planting, plant parts and cuttings, and seeds. On June 3, 2020, APHIS amended the Federal Order to clarify the requirements for fruit, specifically requiring an additional declaration for tomatoes and/or pepper fruit from countries that already must provide a phytosanitary certificate for these commodities. All other requirements remained unchanged.

    The distribution of ToBRFV is rapidly changing across the world and given numerous detections of the virus in the United States over the past several years, APHIS is reevaluating the Agency’s policies for regulating fresh tomato and pepper fruit for consumption and plant propagative material (including seeds) for ToBRFV.

    APHIS developed pathway risk assessments to update and inform its policy decisions related to the virus. APHIS drafted the following documents: (1) a tomato and pepper fruit for consumption pathway risk assessment, (2) a propagative plant materials pathway risk assessment, and (3) a document that describes three potential regulatory responses considering the pathway risk assessments.

    APHIS is seeking scientific information that would provide a greater understanding of the distribution of ToBRFV in the United States and of best management practices, including the development of resistant tomato varieties for this virus. APHIS is also seeking information about the economic impacts of the potential regulatory options.

    APHIS is considering three regulatory policy options:

    1. Continue to regulate Tomato brown rugose fruit virus as a quarantine pest but remove those import restrictions for tomato and pepper fruit for consumption. APHIS would continue to regulate propagative materials, including plants and seed, as described in the existing import Federal Order. APHIS would continue to take action on domestic detections of the virus in seeds and other propagative material.
    2. Categorize Tomato brown rugose fruit virus as a non-quarantine pest and rescind the import Federal Order. This action would remove all import restrictions for this virus for fruit for consumption and for propagative materials. APHIS would no longer take action on domestic detections of the virus.
    3. Continue to regulate Tomato brown rugose fruit virus as a quarantine pest and implement the requirements in the existing import Federal Order without change. APHIS would continue to take action on domestic detections of the virus in fruit, seeds and other propagative material for consumption.

    APHIS will accept public feedback for 30 days following the publication of the documents on the Stakeholder Risk Assessment Consultation web page: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-health/risk-assessment-consultation. APHIS will consider all comments received by August 30, 2023.

    The current ToBRFV Federal Order is available on APHIS’ website here: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth/import-information/federal-import-orders/. If you have any questions, please direct them to PPQPRAComments@usda.gov; please indicate ToBRFV in the subject line.

  • Citrus Canker in Nursery Stock Sold to CA, CDFA & USDA Take Action to Identify & Destroy Affected Plants

    Citrus Pest & Disease Prevention Program — The United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the presence of citrus canker disease in a nursery in South Carolina. The nursery sells plants to consumers through online sales, including four locations in California since August 2021. Retail nurseries did not receive these plants.

    Citrus canker causes citrus leaves and fruit to drop prematurely, and results in lesions on citrus leaves, stems and fruit. Fruit infected with the bacterium that causes citrus canker (Xanthomonas axonopodis) is safe to eat, but it may not be marketable because of the lesions. The disease affects all citrus varieties. Citrus canker is not harmful to people or animals.

    Together with state partners, APHIS is working to collect and destroy the plants shipped to consumers in 11 states and trace plants that were sold to determine additional locations of potentially infected plants. The states include Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.

    The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) was notified that four residential properties throughout the state had ordered citrus nursery stock from the South Carolina nursery. Upon being notified of the recall, CDFA staff successfully verified that one order was not filled, removed and destroyed the recalled trees from two of the three remaining residential properties and is working to connect with the recipients of the final shipment (as of March 9). All additional host plants on these properties were surveyed and sampled for citrus canker disease and submitted for analysis, and delimitation surveys will also be conducted around these locations. These swift actions by APHIS and CDFA are focused on protecting the citrus industry as well as nurseries and other establishments that sell citrus plants wholesale and direct to consumers.

    Currently, citrus canker is found throughout Florida and in limited areas of Louisiana and Texas. APHIS is working with state partners to contain the disease, and federal and state quarantines exist in these states. Additionally, citrus canker was recently confirmed in Alabama, and APHIS is working with state partners to establish a federal quarantine to parallel the state quarantine.

    If you live in one of the 11 states and bought citrus plants online that came from South Carolina between Aug. 5, 2021 – Feb. 17, 2022, please keep your plants for now. If you purchased a plant or plants that might be infected, APHIS and/or state officials will contact you in the next several days to collect and properly dispose of any plants purchased from the nursery. You can also call your local USDA office with additional questions. Contact information can be found at www.aphis.usda.gov/planthealth/sphd.

    To learn more about APHIS’ regulations for citrus canker, please visit https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth/plant-pest-and-disease-programs/pests-and-diseases/citrus/citrus-canker.

    For questions about citrus canker in California or other pests or diseases, please call CDFA’s toll-free Pest Hotline at 1-800-491-1899.