Supes okay funding contracts for LBAM exclusion program

To keep the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) from taking a bite out of the Valley’s agriculture, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, at its August 5 meeting,  authorized contracts with the state totaling $201,921.84 to continue its LBAM exclusion program.
The LBAM, according to some scientists and activists, has so far caused more controversy than damage – at least in Sonoma County, where state eradication programs based on pheromone sprays and twist ties have met with opposition. Only one program seems uncontested: the Sonoma County Agricultural Commission’s pest exclusion program, which aims to make sure the moth does not settle in Valley in the first place. The supervisors’ authorization means the county can contract with the state to continue funding that program.
Stefan Parnay, Sonoma County Chief Deputy Agricultural Commissioner, said the funds cover the costs of the LBAM exclusion program for FY 07-08 and FY 08-09. The program, he explained, includes working with industries and communities, making inspections, handling paper work, calls and meetings. He said a big part of the exclusion program involves going to all the shipping terminals in the county every day and examining all plant material to be sure it meets the certification requirements. “That’s a really critical channel,” said Parnay. “So we have inspectors there every day.” Detection is critical, he said. “We don’t want to be reactive and be cleaning up pests afterwards. That problem’s so much greater, and the costs are so enormous.”
The exclusion program appears tolerable for growers.
“It’s really had minimal impact on us,” said Tom Nemcik, grower and operations manager at NovaVine Grapevine Nursery in Kenwood.  “It’s had more of a bureaucratic impact. More paperwork, to ship intra- and interstate.” Nemcik said his nursery is considered quarantined by the state, which “will quarantine the entire county in terms of exports.”
For Nemcik, the LBAM exclusion program involves positioning traps that the county checks and signing a compliance agreement that states that the nursery will work with the county and will abide by the shipping guidelines. Certain states require that plants be inspected. “Before I can ship it to another state, I need to have a certificate of quarantine compliance and a seal,” he said. Asked about shipping to other countries, such as Canada and Mexico, he said Canada was no problem because the plants get shipped there dormant. “They undergo a hot water treatment that kills any mealy bugs or nematodes or phylloxera. This would also take care of any LBAM,” he said. Mexico is another story. Nemcik said he’d had several orders destined for Mexico held up until a Mexican inspector came to California, himself, to inspect the plants.  Asked whether he thought this extra caution was taken because the Mexican government feared LBAM as a serious pest, Nemcik said he felt the new stringent guidelines in Mexico were more political than biological. Nevertheless, he supports the exclusion project. “If ag is going to continue to be a major part of our state,” he said, “people have to start to get real about what it takes to control ag pests.”
James Stamp, PhD, a Sebastopol viticulturist specializing in critical evaluation of vine performance issues and grapevine nursery stock, said the exclusion program seems to be effective. “People are concerned with pests such as glassy winged sharpshooter and others but they haven’t become an issue. Every two or three years something comes along, but as a general rule, it seems they’re being dealt with.”