California counties cleared of grape, stone fruit restrictions

   The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced Tuesday the eradication of European grapevine moth (EGVM) from Fresno, Mendocino, Merced, and San Joaquin counties in California and the removal of restrictions on exports of EGVM host commodities, including stone fruit and table grapes, from those counties to Mexico.
   “The removal of these counties from the European grapevine moth quarantine will save stone fruit and table grape growers an estimated $10 million a year,” said Rebecca Blue, USDA’s deputy undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs, in a statement.
   After the first detections of EGVM in California in 2009, APHIS and its state partners began working together to detect and control the spread of the pest through outreach, surveys, quarantine enforcement and grower-led treatments costing an average of $10 million per year. APHIS declared eradication in these four counties after two years of surveillance resulted in no new detections of the pest.
   After the 2009 detection of EGVM in California, Mexico also began requiring additional treatments on exports of fresh table grapes and stone fruit from the four counties.
   “APHIS supplied Mexican agricultural officials with surveillance data and official notification that EGVM has been eradicated from the four counties in California,” Blue said. “APHIS’ removal of these counties from the EGVM quarantine triggered Mexico’s removal of restrictions on exports of EGVM host commodities, providing much-needed economic relief for growers.”
   According to USDA, Mexico is one of the top five export markets for American table grapes and the third largest importer of American fresh stone fruit. In 2011, California exported 3.4 million cartons of fresh stone fruit, valued at $45 million, and 5.7 million boxes of fresh table grapes, valued at $102.1 million, to Mexico. Fresno, Mendocino, Merced, and San Joaquin counties are part of the primary production area of fresh U.S. stone fruit and table grapes.