They discovered the corpse in the tidy backyard of a home near the corner of Washington and C streets. The dreaded threat. A farm community’s worst nightmare. A Medfly . On an otherwise peaceful weekday in early September, a county agriculture inspector found the tiny carcass in an insect trap hanging from a peach tree. Then the inspector found another. And another reports the Los Angeles Times.
In all, 13 of the dreaded crop-devouring pests were discovered, along with a couple dozen larvae, the first time in a quarter century that the Mediterranean fruit fly has been found in the Central Valley, California’s farm heartland.
State and federal agriculture officials reacted immediately, launching eradication efforts and expressing confidence — even with subsequent discoveries in San Jose and the Palos Verdes Peninsula this past week — that the feared fly could be stopped once again.
But concern is high in breadbasket communities such as Dixon. This is a place where a farm tractor still can be seen lumbering past the Wal-Mart that sprouted up between alfalfa fields. The road into town is lined with a bumper crop of agribusinesses. The grain silo near main street remains the town’s tallest structure.
Folks here worry that the federal government might be focusing so much on bombs during inspections that they’re letting bugs slip through at borders and ports. They worry that today’s Californians have grown too cavalier about carting back exotic and potentially pest-laden fruits from foreign lands.
Read more here: Medflies raises fears