Presidents' Letters

 

Farm Bureau presidents support eradication

 

Underscoring the importance of the eradication of Light Brown Apple Moth in California, the presidents of the county and state Farm Bureaus issued letters in support of the program that began September 9, 2007.

 

Monterey County Farm Bureau President Bill Hammond sent this September 7 letter to California Secretary of Food and Agriculture A. G. Kawamura: 

 

Dear Secretary Kawamura:

 On behalf of Monterey County Farm Bureau, I write to convey our support for eradication of Light Brown Apple Moth and to encourage you to proceed with the eradication.

Your plans for eradication correspond very well with our own carefully crafted policy on pest eradication.

Our published policy gives clear direction:  “When a new pest that can cause damage to agricultural crops is discovered in the state, the pest should be eradicated.  Any pest or predator eradication effort must be founded upon a sound technical basis.”  Your department has correctly analyzed the potential harm that Light Brown Apple Moth poses to the environment, our natural resources and agricultural production. Your department has also correctly concluded that eradication is possible and that you have an innovative pheromone treatment that will be both effective and safe.

Our policy also says, “Eradication should be undertaken as swiftly as possible.”  Your department’s eradication program should be implemented as quickly as technical and lawful processes allow.

Our policy further says, “Eradication programs should also include a public information component.”  We note that the U. S. Department of Agriculture, California Department of Food and Agriculture, Farm Bureau and other agricultural organizations and the news media have engaged in a successful effort to provide detailed facts about the Light Brown Apple Moth and your department’s eradication program.  We applaud you for your willingness to meet with local officials and residents to answer their concerns.

We understand that California is too often the entry point for invasive pests like Light Brown Apple Moth.  California is the first line of defense for our nation’s environment and food supply against this pest.  We believe it is vital for you to fulfill your duty to eliminate this new pest before it spreads to other state and to other countries.

 

California Farm Bureau President Doug Mosebar issued this September 10 comment:

 

We’ve been invaded by a pest that will cause enormous damage to both our ecology and our economy, unless we stop it now. All of us have a role to play in stopping the threats posed by the light brown apple moth.

We tend to talk about these threats in dollar terms, and there are hundreds of millions of dollars and many jobs at stake, but this is really a quality of life issue. Californians have worked hard to maintain our native plants and native insects, to grow our home gardens and to create the most bountiful farmland of any place on Earth.

The light brown apple moth threatens all of that.

The moth is a hungry creature and it goes after just about anything: native plants such as California lilac and coyote brush, dozens and dozens of popular garden plants, and widely grown crops including grapes, strawberries, apples, citrus fruits. It will attack coastal redwoods and eucalyptus trees.

It is a bad, bad pest.

We owe it to ourselves and to our children to prevent the light brown apple moth from spreading.

People who understand the moth and how it reproduces have advised our state government to fight it by preventing it from mating. We know how to do that by using the moth’s own natural scent to confuse it. This scent, called a pheromone, can be distributed in ways that confuse male moths so they won’t mate. In some cases the pheromone is attached to plants using twist ties, or it’s sprayed from the ground.

In situations where there’s a need to cover a large amount of land in a short period of time, the pheromone can be released from the air.

Nobody likes having to do this. Everyone understands the inconvenience this imposes on people. But the alternative is so much worse.

On behalf of California’s family farmers and ranchers, thank you to everyone who has worked to stop the light brown apple moth, to everyone who has followed the plant quarantine rules aimed at preventing its spread, and to everyone whose communities will receive the pheromone treatments.

Together, we can prevent this ecological and economic disaster.

 

Home Up