I was reading the article on the “rare creepy pest” that was intercepted at the US border (post number 46). I wanted to find out more about the insect but all of the search results with “Cochabamba” and “beetle”, “insect” or “bug” were just referencing that same incident. Does anyone have any additional information on said pest?
The Cochabamba genus of beetles seems to be very obscure and occurs south of Mexico.
I could find a list for Cochabamba of perhaps 10 species, but only in Spanish or Portugese and no images.
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“Pongamia fields produce yields similar to crops like soybeans, while using less healthy soil, fewer chemicals, and less water”
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Everytime we get a miracle food fruit bush or tree like autumn olive they call it an invasive in the USA. Pongamia would likely work fine in our dry , hot climates as well. Thanks for posting it all joking aside it is very interesting.
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California is having a rough go with citrus.
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these measures are rarely effective at eradicating the pests/funguses once they’re here. obviously, we are importing these things into the country on foreign produce /plant stock. simple fix. ban imports of any plant product from out of the country. problem solved. why they haven’t done this by now is beyond me. look at all the money it costs our farmers to battle these things and the billions lost from them in the last 100 yrs.not to mention the destruction of tree species that cost billions in timber loss. if they were really worried about this problem, they would have taken more drastic measures decades ago.
Just read this article. Why only target personal/homegrowers is what I’m wondering the most.
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That is a great question and I am assuming that they probably have some sort of spray system in place for commercial growers but it’s hard to say.
You know what they say about assuming…
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Has to be more than just one option. If some bureaucrat/politician/law enforcement came to my home and started stripping my trees I lose it and the outcome would be bad no matter how it plays out.
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theoretically that could work. Practically it won’t.
If you ban it, there will always be people that import or smuggle it anyways.
Another problem would be that consumers would miss a lot of plant products. As far as I’m aware, the US does not have a (large) banana production for example.
I think that controlling imports instead of banning it would practically have a much better effect.
Controlling pests on produce will be hard. But sponsoring/funding programs that import and disease check plant material before spreading it in country, could be a powerful tool to keep diseases out or lengthen the time before they establish in country.
same!
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even though you would increase scrutiny, chances are you will still not see the pest. esp. fruit fly size and fungals that don’t always show symptoms on the carrier plant. i received a amazon package the other day. the inner box was packaged in China. upon opening it i noticed a large beetle crawling on the floor. i identified it as a assassin bug native to Asia. probably slipped in at the warehouse. they aren’t even necessarily in just plants/ produce.
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That is utterly terrifying. 
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A few years ago in Richmond Virginia, I was doing a warehouse inspection of annual ryegrass shipped in from Uruguay. They were packed 20 bags to a pallet with 2 pallets stacked and wrapped together with plastic. We had to cut the wrap and forklift them apart. Under the top pallet was a nest of brown spiders. No idea when or where they got there. But taking no chances they were dispatched quickly.
Easy enough for pests to arrive in shipping materials.
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It’s my understanding that much of our produce is sanitized/sterilized/cleaned in various ways prior to ending up on our plates from other countries. Maybe not all of it…
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Given the fact that no border is perfectly secure and no customs inspection perfectly complete, it’s really just a matter of time before all major pest species are cosmopolitan in distribution. They will eventually be present in all suitable climates, just like rats, fire blight, dandelions, phytophthera, etc.
All we can do is slow down the spread, which we do pretty well, and breed for resistance, either after the pestilence arrives, which is what we currently do, or before it does, which would be the smart thing to do…
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my wife thought so. 
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I have bought fresh tropical fruits from people in Puerto Rico off of Ebay. They didn’t go through any inspections and weren’t labeled as fruit or perishable. I was buying them for the seed as I am not eating fruit from an unknown source. Everything was clean looking with no signs of pest or disease.
Yet another way something can sneak in.
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