against invasive species. Currently, California’s fruit-sniffing dogs are flown to and trained at the USDA National Detector Dog Training Center in Newnan, Georgia. While this training center offers a great opportunity to train and deploy detector dogs, capacity is limited, and the long distance is challenging for the dogs and their handlers. If we want to bolster the local capacity to train and deploy detector dogs in California, a local training center would help strengthen efforts to protect our local agriculture. We also spoke with Jason Leathers, Environmental Program Manager at the CDFA, who is leading the efforts to eradicate invasive fruit flies and other pests from California. “The majority "If we want to bolster the local capacity to train and deploy detector dogs in California, a local training center would help strengthen efforts to protect our local agriculture." of non-native invertebrate species established in California are insects. CDFA fruit sniffing dogs are able to detect fruits and insects that cross the border into California, potential vectors for pests and diseases that can cause significant damage to our local agriculture,” said Leathers. “Insects are highly adaptable with a high reproductive rate and a lot of genetic variability. This gives them the ability to quickly colonize and become a major pest. Exclusion is the best defense.” Maintaining rigorous biosecurity measures to exclude potentially harmful pests and diseases protects California’s agricultural productivity, economic stability, biodiversity and public health. To learn more about our visit with Kernul and the CDFA, you can listen to this episode on Western Growers’ Voices of the Valley podcast.
11 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com November | December 2024
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