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Ag Commissioner's Corner

Carol N. Hafner
Agricultural Commissioner / Sealer of Weights and Measures

Each month, the Fresno County Department of Agriculture compiles “On the Horizon,” a newsletter from the Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer’s office.  The newsletter provides an update on the myriad issues the Department of Agriculture is tracking and addressing on agriculture’s behalf.  The newsletter highlights activities from each of the three major divisions: Environmental Protection and Pest Management, Weights and Measures/Standardization/ Crop Statistics, and Pest Detection and Exclusion.   Below is a brief recap from the newsletter. The complete version is available on-line at the Ag Commissioner's Web site.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND PEST MANAGEMENT DIVISION:
This division includes pesticide use enforcement, apiary inspection and bee disease abatement, weed control and vertebrate pest control. Fred Rinder has taken of roll of Interim Chief Deputy Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer.  Rinder’s expertise comes from the area of wildlife damage management and weed/vertebrate control.  Until a permanent replacement can be recruited, Rinder will be overseeing this division and some administrative duties.

  • Field Worker Emergency Cards for Pesticide Exposure:  The Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) has developed wallet-sized cards for agricultural fieldworkers with information on who to contact if they become ill or injured from exposure to pesticides.  The card, available in English and Spanish, includes a reminder to call 911 for emergency help and toll-free numbers for the California Poison Control System for medical advice, a toll-free number to reach the appropriate county agricultural commissioner to report the illness or injury.
  • Pesticide Permit Issuance:  The holidays are coming and so is the restricted materials pesticide permit issuance season.  The Department will begin issuing permits on Monday, Dec. 14.  Please note that the Department will be closed due to office closure on Wednesday, Dec. 23 through Thursday, Dec. 24 and Thursday, Dec. 31.  All County offices will be closed on Christmas and New Years Days.
  • Methyl Iodide Workshop Information:  The presentations and discussions that took place on the methyl iodide workshops in Sacramento on Sept. 24 and 25 are available for review on-line.  The workshop purpose was to present the evaluation of the external peer review panel evaluating the Department of Pesticide Regulation’s (DPR) risk assessment on the fumigant, methyl iodide.   For a details, visit the DPR Web site at: www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/risk/methyliodide.htm.
  • Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) 2008 Update:  DPR has updated the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the San Joaquin Valley.  DPR has an existing commitment to reduce agricultural and structural pesticide VOC emissions in the SJV by 12 percent from 1990 levels, as established in the California 1994 Ozone SIP.  They are amending the commitment by establishing the pesticide VOC emissions estimation methodology to evaluate compliance with this reduction, implementing restrictions on agricultural fumigation methods and VOC emissions from non-fumgant pesticides, and managing VOC emissions from commercial structural and agricultural pesticide use to ensure that those emissions do not exceed 18.1 tons per day in the SJV (this is equivalent to the target level of 12 percent reduction from 1990 levels.) 

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES/STANDARDIZATION/CROP STATISTICS DIVISION:
Measuring and weighing devices, quantity control, weighmaster enforcement, petroleum products, service agents and metrology are programs within the weights and measures function of this division.  The other programs include crop statistics, fruit and vegetable quality control, egg quality control, organic farming and direct marketing.  Thomas Nyberg, retired Deputy Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer, has returned as an Extra Help Deputy to provide direction to the division until the recruitment for the vacancy can be completed. 

  • Weights and Measures:  Motor fuel dispensers, grocery stores and liquid petroleum gas (propane) meters have been the dominant devices tested during October.  Propane delivery truck inspections will continue through December.  Several quantity control complaints have been investigated with the most common issue being short volume of firewood.  The California Code of Regulations defines a cord of firewood as 128 cubic feet "well stacked and stowed".  Dealers are also required to provide a receipt with the seller’s name, address, amount, kind of wood, and price.  Contact our Department if you have issues with firewood sales.
  • Fruit and Vegetable Standardization:  Fresno County's Westside melon season, which ended in late October, continues to produce the highest quality melons for world consumption.  Though some maturity problems arose periodically overall the melon season had no major problems.  Grape inspection season is over as well, but a few growers were still packing.  The Flame Grape season was shortened due to early heat.  Citrus maturity inspections have begun, with some fruit being transported from Kern County to Fresno County for packing.  Current inspections have not had problems with maturity.  Lettuce inspections began in mid October with full production by Nov. 1.  Lettuce quality is good. 

PEST DETECTION AND EXCLUSION DIVISION
The Pest Detection and Exclusion Division includes nursery inspection, seed inspection, pest detection and trapping, pest control and eradication, biological control, entomological services, and pest exclusion, including high risk pathway and commodity export inspections.  The Deputy Agricultural Commissioner in charge of this division is Tye T. Hafner. 

  • European Grapevine Moth (EGVM): Six adult moths identified as the European Grapevine Moth, Lobesia botrana were recently trapped.  Five of the moths were caught in the Oakville area of Napa County.  The other moth was found near Napa.  Nine confirmed and 29 presumptive positive larvae were collected at 20 different sites.  At one vineyard, there was significant feeding damage to grape clusters and Botrytis rot was also so widespread in the vineyard that the fruit was not harvested.  In response, CDFA and the Napa County Agricultural Commissioner’s office are deploying pheromone traps and conducting larval surveys to determine the extent of the infestation.  Surveys to look for pupae (the overwintering stage of the moth) will also begin soon.  EGVM is a serious grape pest of economic importance in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, southern Russia, Japan and recently Chile.  The larva feed on grape flowers and developing fruit.  Second and third generations cause the most damage by direct feeding on mature grape berries and indirectly by predisposing the crop to grey mold, a fungal infection caused by Botrytis cinerea.  In fact it is the spread of botrytis rot by this pest that causes the most harm.  Damage is greatest in grape cultivars with compact clusters or sensitive to rot.   EGVE also feeds on kiwi, nectarine, cherry, olive, privet and ivy.  Pest Risk Assessments of this pest rated the chances of it becoming established as high if it should ever be introduced.
  • Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM):  Six LBAM were trapped in rural areas near Tracy in San Joaquin County. This is unusual as initial finds of LBAM usually occur in urban areas. Two LBAM were also trapped in Manteca which also had detection earlier this last summer. Pheromone twist tie treatments will begin immediately.
  • Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Medfly):  A single male fruit fly was trapped inside the quarantine boundary established for the Escondido area of San Diego County but outside the SID eradication boundary. Since this latest detection is outside of the life cycle of the earlier finds in September, CDFA is responding to it as a new Medfly detection.  Also, Fallbrook has come under attack once again with more Medflies.  In addition, Santa Monica in Los Angeles County has found Medfly.
  • Asian Citrus Psyllid:  The entire counties of Los Angeles and Orange Counties are now quarantined for Asian Citrus Psyllid.  The infestation in Los Angeles was triggered by a single insect find near Dodger Stadium and has expanded to 36 square miles of quarantine area.  Trapping, surveying and treatments have begun in the area.  This infestation has the entire state on alert as citrus begins to move for processing throughout the state.
  • Glassy-winged Sharpshooter (GWSS) Program:  A GWSS was trapped in a commercial orange orchard near the vicinity of Clovis and American Aves. Growers in the area have been contacted and will be asked to treat their crops for GWSS.  The USDA reimburses growers for the cost of the treatment materials. A number of GWSS have also been found this summer on the outer edge of the Fresno city limits; especially on the west side. To protect commercial agriculture, foliar and soil injection treatments in begin in March 2010 at those residences with GWSS at the city’s edge. 
  • Japanese Dodder :  A number of Japanese dodder sites have been found in the city of Fresno this last summer. Three of the finds were a result of detection surveys by Department staff and one was due to a home owner notification to the CDFA.  Eradication efforts are in progress.

 

Contact Information:
Agricultural Commissioner
Department of Agriculture
1730 S. Maple Ave., Fresno, CA 93702
(559) 456-7510

Web site: www.co.fresno.ca.us/Departments
Email: FresnoAg@co.fresno.ca.us