Month: October 2017

New “Plant Pest” Boss Soon to Take Office

Gregory Ibach

 

Gregory Ibach has been appointed USDA Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs. He will supervise APHIS.

Mr. Ibach has strong ties to mainstream agriculture. A fourth-generation farmer (cow-calf and rowcrops), he has served as Nebraska’s Commissioner – or Deputy – of Agriculture under three governors – since 1999. His academic background is animal science and agricultural economics.

Mr. Ibach’s nomination was supported by 60 organizations, including the Farm Bureau, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and National Corn Growers.

The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry held a very friendly hearing on Mr. Ibach’s appointment on October 5, 2017 2017 (video posted at the Committee website)  During the hearing – which was shortened by the need to attend to other Senate business – Senators’ attention focused on the farm conservation programs managed by the other nominee at the hearing (William Northey, nominee for Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services). In response to several questions about marketing programs, Mr. Ibach said he needed to learn more about an issue.

In his formal testimony, Mr. Ibach noted the breadth of responsibilities under the jurisdiction of the Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs and promised to find a balance between the two duties: representing and promoting the interests of farmers and ranchers; and overseeing some of the entities that regulate them. (Written testimony posted on Committee website — link above.)

“If confirmed, I will help the Secretary achieve his goals through ensuring sensible and effective regulations, responding to our customers in a timely and straight forward manner, focusing on plant and animal health program effectiveness, and fostering safe innovation that is farmer, consumer and environmentally sound.”

I summarize key points of the hearing below.

Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) noted that foreign animal disease threats – such as avian influenza – have threatened agricultural production and asked what Mr. Ibach’s priorities would be for safeguarding animal health. Mr. Ibach said he takes very seriously APHIS’ responsibilities to keep diseases and pests out of the country and to control those that enter. He promised to learn about every program.

Ranking Democrat Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) asked Mr. Ibach about budgetary pressures. He responded by saying he would commit to doing the best job possible with available funds and to pursue efficiencies.

Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was also concerned about disease threats to Minnesota’s large-scale turkey and hog producers.

John Hoeven (R-ND) pressed Mr. Ibach to find a solution to blackbirds as a threat to agriculture. Mr. Ibach said they are a problem in Nebraska, too. He promised to seek a “balanced” approach that preserved wildlife “when appropriate” while protecting farmers from destruction and disease threats.

Senator Leahy (D-VT) submitted questions pertinent to our concerns about tree-killing pests. Noting that Mr. Ibach had spoken about the pest threat to farmers, ranchers, and producers but had made no mention of the forest pests, Senator Leahy asked:

  • What familiarity do you have with APHIS’ work to keep out invasive forests pests that threaten our nation’s forests and the rural jobs and economy those forests support?

Mr. Ibach replied: I am familiar with the work that APHIS does in partnership with states to keep out and eradicate forest pests. In fact, in Nebraska, we have been working closely with APHIS prior to and since Emerald Ash Borer was found in the state for the first-time last year. These pests can absolutely devastate our forests, and if confirmed, I would work to make sure that APHIS’ pest programs, including those to protect the green mountains of Vermont, are effective.

  • Can you tell me how many wood and tree pests APHIS inspectors find every year, which theoretically should not have made it to our shores if importers were using the best available processes and phytosanitary practices to keep American agriculture and natural resources safe? And do you commit to looking into this issue and finding ways to safeguard both American agriculture and our natural resources?

Mr. Ibach replied: I do not have that data, but commit to learning more and working every day to protect American agriculture and natural resources if confirmed.

Senator Roberts said that the Committee would act soon to approve the nominations of Gregory Ibach and William Northey.

 

The Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs sets the tone for APHIS’ efforts.  This person can prompt aggressive protection efforts … or block such efforts by opposition or indifference.  Let’s hope that Mr. Ibach plays the former role!

 

Posted by Faith Campbell

 

We welcome comments that supplement or correct factual information, suggest new approaches, or promote thoughtful consideration. We post comments that disagree with us — but not those we judge to be not civil or inflammatory.

 

Penalties for Importers Who Violate Wood Packaging Rules!

CBP inspection of wood packaging; CBP photo

On September 25, the DHS Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that beginning on November 1, the agency would no longer eschew penalizing importers of non-compliant wood packaging until that importer had accumulated five such interceptions in the course of a year.

Beginning November 1, “responsible parties with a documented WPM violation may be issued a penalty under Title 19 United States Code (USC) § 1595a(b) or under 19 USC § 1592.”

As readers of this blog might remember, I have frequently fulminated against the “five strikes” policy.  The United States began full implementation of the international standard governing treatment of wood packaging (ISPM#15) 11 and ½ years ago. The U.S. and Canada began requiring China to treat its wood packaging nearly 18 years ago. Nevertheless, numerous shipments containing wood packaging that does not comply with the regulations continue to arrive at our borders – and to bring pests. As of February, only about 30 import shipments (out of nearly 21,000 shipments found to be in violation of ISPM#15 requirements) have received a financial penalty.

shipments of stone or tile are frequently supported by non-compliant wood packaging; photo (c) the Queen by right of Canada (CFIA)

In a blog I posted in February I described the continuing detections of pests in wood packaging. In summary, during Fiscal Years 2010 through 2016, CBP detected nearly 5,000 shipments of wood packaging that harbored a pest in a regulated taxonomic group. The APHIS interception database for the period FYs 2011 – 2016 contained 2,547 records for insect detections on wood packaging. The insects belonged to more than 20 families. A quarter were in the Cerambycid family; 11% were Buprestids. In a study of insect larvae removed from incoming wood packaging from the period April 2012 through August 2016, APHIS scientists evaluated 1,068 insects from 786 separate interceptions of non-compliant wood packaging. The wood packaging in all three datasets came from dozens of countries.

 

(Remember, the U.S. and Canada do not apply ISPM#15 to wood packaging moving between the two countries. Neither country inspects wood packaging from the other country at even the low rate of inspection applied to wood packaging coming from other countries – so we don’t know how many quarantine pests are moving in this high-volume trade.)

 

The Bureau of Customs’ action has partially fulfilled one of two recommendations that I made in the February blog. I applaud CBP’s action. However, neither CBP or APHIS has yet prohibited importers with records of repeat violations from using wood packaging – my second recommendation.

 

Note that the CBP decision applies Customs regulations; USDA has apparently not changed its policy of allowing importers to accumulate five (detected) violations in a calendar year before applying the civil penalties provided by the Plant Protection Act.  Why?

 

We welcome comments that supplement or correct factual information, suggest new approaches, or promote thoughtful consideration. We post comments that disagree with us — but not those we judge to be not civil or inflammatory.

Posted by Faith Campbell

Biological Control Approved for Invasive Black and Pale Swallow-wort!

black swallow-wort; photo by Leslie J. Mehrhoff, University of Connecticut

Help is on the way!

With funding support through the Northeast IPM Partnership, University of Rhode Island entomologist Richard Casagrande has been leading a team to find biological control agents for two invasive plant species. The target species, black swallow-wort (Vincetoxicum nigrum) and pale swallow-wort (Vincetoxicum rossicum), are native to Europe and members of the milkweed family Apocynaceae (previously Asclepiadaceae). In the U.S., their vigorous growth overtakes and smothers small trees, shrubs and other native plants and threatens the survival of the monarch butterfly whose larvae rely on milkweed for their development. They are currently found in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states but could spread much farther.

(See Faith’s earlier blog about USDA speeding up approvals of biocontrols for invasive plants here.

U.S. native swallow-wort species belong to the genus Cynanchum and include a dozen or so rare and endangered plant species. It was essential to consider these native species in the investigations. Feeding tests would need to show definitively that the potential biocontrol species would not attack native swallow-worts or other native members of the milkweed family. And, Jennifer Dacey, Casagrande’s graduate student, wanted to find out how well the exotic swallow-worts might provide for monarch butterflies. The results were alarming.  All of the monarch larvae died when hatching on black swallow-wort.  “They stopped eating after a single bite,” says Casagrande.

pale swallow-wort; photo by Leslie J. Mehrhoff, University of Connecticut

Why biological control?

Small infestations of invasive swallow-wort, seedlings and young plants can be pulled up by hand, mature plants can be dug up, and frequent mowing can suppress populations in fields. However, most infestations are too extensive to control by hand. Systemic herbicides – those that are carried through the plant to the roots — can be used to control large infestations, using foliar sprays. Several years of treatment will likely be needed due to the persistence of swallow-wort seeds. These efforts can be part of an overall Integrated Pest Management strategy but the best long-range solution is biological control. Biocontrol relies on finding herbivores that have coevolved to feed on specific invasive plants in their native range that will not have a significant impact on non-target species. Graduate student Aaron Weed worked with Swiss scientists to identify a handful of specialist plant herbivores, mainly beetles and moths that evolved with black swallow-wort and pale swallow-wort in their native ranges in Europe and were highly unlikely to feed on other plant species.

Approval process.

All biological control agents must be approved for release by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). APHIS sets up a Technical Advisory Group, or “TAG”, to review the research on feeding tests conducted by the researchers, called “no-choice” tests.  Potential biocontrol agents are tested for feeding on an extensive selection of native plant species and their relatives to ensure the agents are specific to the target species and won’t pose a threat to agriculture or to rare, threatened or endangered species or to other native species. The TAG list includes, naturally, most native milkweed relatives and even species more distantly related.

“Luckily, none of our native plants is closely related to the [invasive]swallow-worts,” says Casagrande. “That makes [swallow-wort] a great candidate for classical biological control.  The Tag list also includes a suite of Eurasian plants you might expect these specialists to nibble at now and then, and even plants that could host these specialists’ relatives. The bar is high for these no-choice tests: biocontrols must prove they’ll die before they switch.”

Casagrande’s team examined five possible biocontrol specialists in their quarantine lab, including two European moth species (Hypena opulenta and Abrostola asclepiadis) that feed on swallow-wort leaves in their native range. The researchers wanted to be sure these insects wouldn’t jump to non-target plants on the TAG list, since the last thing anyone wants is a new pest dominating the landscape, threatening agriculture, native ecosystems, and rare plants.

Results?

Both leaf-eating moths “passed the acid test,” says Casagrande. However, scientists have only petitioned for and received approval for Hypena opulenta, which was approved by the USDA in September 2017. They may seek approval for Abrostela in the future but for now are focused on rearing, releasing, and studying the effectiveness of Hypena.  Releases in Canada started in 2013 when Hypena was approved there. Since then, it has established and spread but it is too soon to evaluate its effectiveness.

Releases in the U.S.

Hypena opulenta was released on Naushon Island, Massachusetts, in early September 2017 – the only release in the United States – where both black and pale swallow-wort occur. The field release was carried out by placing about 400 larvae in each of 4 large cages containing both swallow-wort species in sun and shade locations. The larvae will be allowed to grow and develop in the cages for a little while before the cages are opened to allow the larvae to escape and start establishing on the island.

Next steps?

Funding will be sought to support rearing of Hypena at University of Rhode Island and other locations in the U.S. Dr. Lisa Tewksbury, Manager of Biological Control at URI, is running the program. It will take a few years to get to the point of having sufficient moths to distribute widely.  Best practices for releasing and monitoring will be developed.

Thanks to the Northeast IPM Partnership and the interest and dedicated efforts of Casagrande and his research team, we now have the most effective tool to use against two highly invasive plant species that will also protect our native species and natural ecosystems.

 

Posted by Jil Swearingen

Jil recently retired from the federal government and works as an invasive species consultant. She has 28 years of experience working on invasive species at the county, regional and national level in areas of education, outreach and management. Jil initiated and co-founded the Mid Atlantic Invasive Plant Council and serves on the board. Jil serves as the Coordinator for the Mid Atlantic Early Detection Network, a project she initiated and co-developed, and she continues to serve as Chair for the Plant Conservation Alliance’s Alien Plant Working Group and manager of the Weeds Gone Wild website. Jil is lead author of the book, Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas. She was recently elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the Maryland Native Plant Society

 

We welcome comments that supplement or correct factual information, suggest new approaches, or promote thoughtful consideration. We post comments that disagree with us — but not those we judge to be not civil or inflammatory.