By Victoria Franco. Bay City News.
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The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution to ratify and continue a local emergency proclamation due to the migration of beet leafhoppers into tomato crops.
With San Joaquin County growing about 21,000 acres of tomatoes each year, insects like the beet leafhopper suck the juice from the plants and transmit diseases like beet curly top virus.
Once plants such as tomatoes are infected with the virus, they die and cannot produce any more.
Last month, several pest control consultants walking through the county's tomato fields spotted virus-infected tomatoes on Roberts Island, Union Island and Fabian Tract.
Meeting documents indicated that California grows fresh market and processing tomatoes annually on approximately 235,000 acres, including 21,673 acres in 2023 in San Joaquin County, at an annual production cost of $5,248 per acre, representing approximately $114 million in annual revenue or crop value.
County Agricultural Commissioner Sealer of Weights & Measures Kamal Bagri said the virus and insect have been in the county for decades and have typically affected tomato crops.
However, this year it was necessary to declare a local emergency because new regulations passed in the state have restricted and limited certain uses of neonicotinoids to control the problem.
Neonicotinoids are active substances used in plant protection products to help control harmful insects.
“Growers simply do not have the tools to combat the virus now because of recent new regulations,” Bagri said.
Notably, similar local proclamations have been passed since April to combat the same virus and insect problem in other surrounding counties.
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