02/24/05 Another Apple Maggot Quarantine Area

02/24/05 Another Apple Maggot Quarantine Area

Washington State's Department of Agriculture is set to adopt another apple maggot quarantine area. But according to Mike Willett of the Northwest Horticultural Association, this latest one could prove to be very significant, as it is set for an area near a key part of the Northwest apple industry. WILLETT: The threat of apple maggot is really the threat of quarantine action taken by trading partners and there are a number of trading partners that require that fruit sold to them must be from an apple maggot free area. And that's the impact that we're looking at, and that's why the state is proposing to essentially quarantine only a portion of Yakima County. The proposal would allow commercial growers far enough away from the affected area and safe from pest risks to move fruit once the proposed A.M.Q.A. is well documented to trading partners. Willett says once the area is established, its location will mean unprecedented monitoring for apple maggot. WILLETT: Right now, the trapping program really focuses not on commercial orchards but on untreated backyard trees or untreated hosts. This quarantine is going to require that the area adjacent to the quarantine area is to be trapped at a much higher level of intensity then trapped anywhere else in a given county. But part of the A.M.Q.A. order for western Yakima County will have benefits to another county partially designated last year. More in our next program.
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