USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) closed out another successful year of protecting domestic plants from invasive threats while enabling safe trade. In 2023, APHIS employees inspected at least 2.82 billion pounds of imported crops from 19 countries a testament to the year-round effort. Collaborating with U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the ports, APHIS intercepted more than 109,000 plant pests at our borders.
Invasive fruit flies, such as the Oriental, Mexican, Mediterranean, and European cherry fruit fly, pose threats to many U.S. commercial and homegrown crops. If established, these flies could cause significant economic losses, requiring costly treatments to protect fruits and vegetables and reducing the marketability of infested fruit both locally and abroad. What’s at stake? The market value of invasive fruit fly-host commodities totaled approximately $11.7 billion in the United States in 2022. Approximately $8.3 billion of that was from California and $2.9 billion from Florida.
USDA APHIS | USDA Provides More than $1 3 Million to Hawaii to Support Projects that Protect Agriculture and Natural Resources usda.gov - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from usda.gov Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.