REGION PLANS INSECT BATTLE; PROGRAM WILL FUND TRAPS TO PREVENT COSTLY INFESTATIONS.

Byline: David Greenberg Daily News Staff Writer

More than $573,000 will be spent countywide between now and June to prevent the reoccurrence of an insect infestation that resulted in a $50 million crop loss in Camarillo four years ago.

The insect detection program pays for the maintenance and replacement of more than 5,000 traps set in urban areas, farms and forests countywide - targeting Japanese beetles, gypsy moths and various species of fruit flies that can be brought into the county with shipped goods.

``You have to find (insects) early and take appropriate action immediately,'' said Gary Agosta, program supervisor for the California Department of Food and Agriculture. ``They have the ability to reproduce quickly and spread quickly - analogous to a brush fire in a dry forest on a windy day. If you don't get on top of it, you're going to lose it.''

Fruit flies feed on any fruit grown in the county, Japanese beetles eat roses and turf found in parks and golf courses, while gypsy moths love shade trees.

Fruit that officials quarantine may only be shipped to juice manufacturers, which filter out any solid or unneeded ingredients. The juice makers, however, pay only 40 to 80 cents for a 38- to 40-pound fruit box as opposed to $4 a box when the crop is sold fresh.

``If you have an infestation, the economic impact to the grower is devastating, because that's their livelihood,'' said Earl McPhail, county agriculture commissioner. ``They can't ship their (fresh) fruit outside of the area.''

As part of a decades-old program, the state funded the county $402,584 this fiscal year to supplement the $129,390 in general fund money the Board of Supervisors is expected to appropriate on Tuesday.

The program expenses include 12 full-time staff members, who inspect the traps every six weeks, as well as vehicles, equipment and traps, many of which are made from wax-coated cardboard and need to be frequently replaced.

The traps attract insects with a chemical that serves as an artificial sex attractant and is pasted on ``sticky paper,'' from which the insects upon contact can not escape.

Although the peak time for insects is late spring and throughout the summer, Southern California's tropical climate make it susceptible to infestation year-round.

Agriculture experts will declare an infestation if only one mated female or two males are found in the general vicinity.

``Fruit flies typically can lay 200 to 300 eggs in a life span,'' Agosta said, adding that insects live 10 days to three months, depending on the climate and the amount of food and water available.

Only 66 Medflies - three mated females and 63 males - were found in Camarillo in November 1994.

Yet the industry lost $50 million in lost sales and treatment of the infestation.

The county has not had an infestation of Medflies since.