Growers: Moth plan a PR
disaster Posted: Monday, Mar 24th,
2008 By DAVID
CARKHUFF
Typically the
staunchest supporters of the California Department of Food and
Agriculture, farmers are voicing reservations about the state’s
effort to spray pheromones over the Central Coast — and they say
they’re caught in the middle of an ugly public relations
crossfire.
“It pits farming against the health concerns of
the community,” said Dave Cavanaugh, chairman of the Light Brown
Apple Moth Task Force and operator of Cavanaugh Color in
Watsonville, as he reflected on the state’s continued plans to spray
pheromones over California cities.
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture has threatened to jump in and take over the state’s
eradication effort, many farmers point out, so they can understand
why the state has pushed for widespread spraying of pheromones
— a synthetic secretion that has been used to hamper moth
reproduction.
But farmers express ambivalence — they want the
pest eliminated so they can sell their crops, but they also don’t
want a public-relations nightmare.
Many farmers — and not
just nursery owners — also question the effectiveness of using
pheromone spray without tackling the pest through other
methods.
“I don’t see where that’s going to be the answer,
the end-all,” said Steve Bontadelli, a La Selva Beach farmer. “Maybe
start developing some of these alternatives.”
Local
nurseryman Jeff Rosendale and Daniel Harder, botanist and executive
director of the University of California at Santa Cruz Arboretum,
stirred up controversy with the release this month of a report,
titled, “Integrated Pest Management Practices for the Light Brown
Apple Moth in New Zealand: Implications for California.” The report
challenges the state’s ongoing plans to spray pheromones over
cities.
Now, as state legislators launch a flurry of bills
calling for increased study of the moth spray, farmers worry that
CDFA is losing the public relations battle.
“This spray issue
is such a hot-button issue, they’re losing ground by spinning their
wheels,” Bontadelli said.
“I want to give CDFA and USDA
credit for at least trying to find something that’s going to help
reduce the populations,” Cavanaugh said. “(But) the science hasn’t
been out long enough, and that’s where the concerns come
in.”
Cavanaugh said he plans to meet with the LBAM Task Force
in the upcoming month and try to come up with a new way of
approaching the apple moth issue. Potentially, the bigger picture
that will be discussed will be a recommendation for the state to
look at classification of the insect (some dispute this Australian
bug’s reputation as a voracious destroyer of crops and plant life);
review funding for increased research; and
