SAF Wednesday E-Brief - 06/27/2007 (Plain Text Version)
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Little Pest Causes Big Problems
Canada has recently imposed new requirements on cut flowers imported from California, in response to the discovery of light brown apple moths in the state earlier this year. Effective June 25, Canada began requiring inspection and a phytosanitary certificate on most cut flower and plant shipments from the state. "As a caterpillar, the moth feeds on flowers, fruits and firs," according to a story in The New York Times. "So omnivorous is the moth that some entomologists call it the 'light brown everything moth.'" The pest, first found in California this spring, caused the USDA to issue a federal quarantine order in May governing the movement of cut flowers, cut foliage, plants and certain fruits and vegetables originating in the counties where the moth had been found. The Canadian requirements, however, go much further in restricting shipments. Mexico also has banned shipments of a variety of crops from the quarantine area and requires special inspections for shipments from the entire state, according to an article in The Sacramento Bee. Janice Wills, program coordinator for the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC) says that while the Mexican quarantine has not caused many problems, the Canadian one has. "A lot of our flowers don't go South ... [but] in terms of shipping, it has been horrendous, and especially into Canada there have been some serious problems." "It just takes more time," says Tracey Comin of Dos Osos Multifloro, a Watsonville, Calif., flower shipper, of the new requirements. "There is more paperwork involved ... it's just one more step in doing business." Lin Schmale, SAF's senior director of government relations remains concerned. "SAF and CCFC worked successfully with APHIS and the states to avoid interstate quarantines here in the U.S., which were threatened earlier this spring," she says. "The Canadian actions are very, very unfortunate and we think they are completely unwarranted, because the pest is only found in a very few California counties. USDA is pleading to get Canada to back off." --Vanessa Machir
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