Citrus farmers to get funding to fight fruit flies

$22.1M will help Inland growers covered in large quarantine zone

Gov. Gavin Newsom this week signed legislation signaling his intention to provide $22.1 million in the California budget to fight fruit fly infestations wreaking havoc on citrus groves in the Inland Empire and elsewhere in the state.

Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes, Dcolton, who earlier this year authored a bill to require the state Department of Food and Agriculture to detect and eradicate invasive species, applauded Newsom for “understanding the emergency we are experiencing locally to our agricultural economy,” according to a news release.

Casey Creamer, president of California Citrus Mutual, in the release said the funding is essential in addressing the “unprecedented fruit fly infestations that threaten our communities, homeowners, and agricultural livelihoods.”

The problematic fruit flies prompted regulators in recent months to enact quarantines on 554 square miles in San Bernardino and Riverside counties alone.

In September, the state enacted a quarantine in Redlands and neighboring communities to try to control the spread of the Oriental fruit fly. A few months later, the state removed citrus from a couple thousand properties in Redlands that were all within a half-mile of where fruit fly larva, mated females or high numbers of fruit flies had been detected.

State Sen. Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, R-yucaipa, and other lawmakers meanwhile, are urging Newsom to provide direct relief to citrus growers impacted by the infestation and quarantine, which has heavily impacted distribution and sales. The lawmakers have requested $45 million in emergency funding for citrus growers in the quarantine areas who cannot move crops off their properties.