CALIFORNIA
Vegetables A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ®
Processing tomato pest triggers county emergencies By Vicky Boyd Emergency declarations in several counties in the San Joaquin Valley have allowed processing tomato growers to use neonicotinoid pesticides to treat fields impacted by sugar beet leafhoppers. The insect pest transmits beet curly top virus, which leads to reduced yields. County agricultural commissioners made the declarations preemptively to contain the pest before it damaged too many crops.
“So much of it is we don’t know for sure,” he said. “If we need it or have to use it, by the time we see leafhoppers becoming an issue, we don’t have two to three weeks to go through the (emergency declaration) process. We need to take care of it now.” In late May, Bays said he had begun to see a few leafhoppers moving into his tomato fields near the coastal foothills. He typically looks to Fresno and Kern counties as predictors of what might occur in his area because they tend to be a few weeks ahead on leafhopper migration. “They’ve been seeing more leafhoppers down there, so we know it’s only a matter of time before we’ll be seeing more,” he said. The emergency declaration requests, which were approved by boards of supervisors in Kern, Fresno, Kings, Madera, Merced and Stanislaus counties, apply only to use of neon- icotinoids on processing tomatoes for beet leafhoppers. Growers must first obtain a pest control advisor recommendation for the pesticide’s use, follow label instructions and visit the BeeWhere beehive location website or survey for nearby bees, Pinfold said. The declarations expire 60 days after approval.
In a preemptive move this spring, several county agricultural commissioners sought emergency declarations for a processing tomato pest so growers could have in-season access to popular neonicotinoid insecticides. Had they waited for the sugar beet leafhopper to show up in San Joaquin Valley process- ing tomato fields, it would have likely been too late to begin the emergency declaration process, said Stanislaus County Agricultural Commissioner Linda Pinfold. “We know every year we have the beet leafhopper, and as things warm up, they come down from the hills and migrate into the valley,” she said of the pest, which spreads beet curly top virus, a disease known to cause serious crop damage. “The tomato plants, espe- cially from the moment they’re planted to when they fill out fruit, are the most susceptible.” She said the county declaration was needed “so that the growers can have the tools available to them if and when they detect beet leafhopper that’s migrated in.” Stanislaus County farmer Daniel Bays, who grows a mix of tree and row crops, including processing tomatoes near Westley, said having neonicotinoids available for in-season leafhopper control was a relief.
See LEAFHOPPER, Page 7
6 Ag Alert June 19, 2024
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