Dear Lyndon, I
thought you might like to read an article dated 10:00 PM ET 03/23/00 and
entitled: Calif. Wants To Crush
Thirsty Insect. By JENNIFER KERR, Associated Press Writer.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ Lawmakers have proposed spending more than
$14 million to eradicate a thirsty, half-inch-long brown insect new to
California that is threatening the state's grape crop.
``California's table, raisin and wine grape industries must be
protected from the insects and bacterium that have the potential to destroy
portions of that industry,'' Gov. Gray Davis said Thursday.
After meeting with representatives of California's $33 billion wine
industry, Davis announced his support of a bill that would spend $7 million a
year for two years on research to fight Pierce's Disease.
The disease is caused by a bacterium and is spread by a plant-sucking
insect known as a sharpshooter.
Small versions of the bug have been around for decades, but a larger
cousin, the glassy-winged sharpshooter, has been spreading through California
since 1990.
``We've had Pierce's Disease for a hundred years, but it's never been
this aggressive and this voracious,'' said John DeLuca, president of the Wine
Institute, which represents 91 percent of California's wineries.
Eight counties in southern California and part of Kern County are
infested with the insect, state officials say. It has caused $6 million damage
to wine grapes in Riverside County's Temecula Valley in two years.
The insect also threatens dozens of other crops, including citrus
fruits, peaches, plums, avocados, almond trees and alfalfa.
On the Net: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/gwss
http://danrcs.ucdavis.edu/Special/gwss
Well Lyndon, Whenever you decide to
"legally" allow the use of safe and far more effective alternatives
in California - I will give you several ORGANIC controls that will work to
safely and effectively control (even resistant) pest problems in your
vineyards. I currently have
several California grape vines growing in my back room, to see if I can also
safely and effectively control your "black goo".
But, even if I can safely and effectively control all of your pest
problems with food grade and/or GRAS materials - the "ball" as
always, is in your court, as to whether or not you want to continue using only
your dangerous "registered" POISONS and to keep all of your
resistant pest problems or to safely and effectively crush them.....Do you
really want to crush your pest problems?
Respectively, Stephen L. Tvedten
