SORTING THROUGH PROTEST : PLAN TO LIFT AVOCADO BAN ASSAILED COUNTY GROWERS SAY PEST-LADEN MEXICAN FRUIT COULD CRIPPLE CROP.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Fighting the Medfly invasion that threatened to devastate California agriculture was only a skirmish for Don Reeder compared with the bigger battle he fears if pest-ridden Mexican avocados come into the country.

Growers of avocados and other crops preyed on by the Medfly survived mild public fallout from the aerial pesticide spraying centered on Camarillo for the first half of 1995. A quarantine limiting exports from the 86-square-mile area was lifted several months later.

``I don't ever want to go through that again. I don't ever want to spray another person in Camarillo or Thousand Oaks or wherever,'' said Reeder, a manager for Pro-Ag Inc., which operates 1,400 acres of Ventura County avocado orchards.

Avocado growers are proud indeed that they raise an essentially organic crop, relying on beneficial wasps and mites to control pests. Wind, frost and drought are greater threats.

Growers, however, contend that a perpetual pesticide war against a variety of destructive fruit flies, weevils and mites would be needed to keep orchards producing if the U.S. Department of Agriculture lifts an 82-year quarantine on Mexican avocados.

Led by the Avocado Commission for California, where some 95 percent of the nation's crop is produced, growers charge that the import plan is a hasty effort to help Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement. They claim it could ultimately cripple a crop valued at $227 million in 1994-95.

``We support the idea of free trade and the concept behind NAFTA, but not at the expense of sound science,'' said Mark Affleck, the commission's president. ``They now have a record that is replete with scientific evidence illustrating the infirmities in the proposal.''

Federal agriculture officials pulled back the proposal last year and sought more comment on the merits of allowing imports of fresh Haas avocados, mostly from Michoacan state, into 19 Eastern states and the District of Columbia. Mexican growers would need to ensure that the fruit was pest-free, and fruit could be imported only from November to February, when cold weather presumably would freeze out any pests hitching along.

More than 2,000 comments, most opposing the proposal, came in during a three-month period that ended more than a year ago. Hearings were held in Florida, Texas, Illinois, California and Washington, D.C.

Growers claim that the import plan was delayed only after studies showed that nine avocado pests, including the potentially devastating Mediterranean fruit fly and the seed and stem borer weevils, proliferate in Mexican orchards.

``The growers, to their credit, turned out en masse to make their feelings known,'' said Larry Hawkins, spokesman for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which is the agricultural agency arm that produced the import plan.

Proponents mostly were wholesale produce dealers, market and restaurant associations in the Northeast, where consumers hunger for a more consistent supply of avocados than California and Florida growers can provide.

``The critical issue here is the trade issue,'' Hawkins said. ``Under our current trade agreements, we are not supposed to have artificial barriers to free trade.

``That does not mean that we abandon our concern over the security of U.S. growers over biological and pest control issues.''

The final decision on the import plan now is with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman. His ruling is not expected until sometime next year, Hawkins said.

Mexican avocados have not been allowed into this country since the quarantine was established in 1914, over fears that a variety of species of fruit flies and weevils might reach U.S. orchards and decimate crops.

Ventura County accounts for more than 25 percent of California's total crop. The commission projects that local growers will produce an average of 6,100 pounds of avocados on each of 14,700 acres during 1996-97, which is second only to San Diego County.

There are only two known threats to Ventura County avocados: A mite's feeding habits, which cause fruit and leaves to drop, leaving trees bare and impacting fruit production; and a still unidentified pest that causes fruit to drop and scarring to occur on the fruit's skin.

A predatory mite is used to fight the former and a foe should be found for the latter, said Ben Faber, a University of California Cooperative Extension farm adviser who works in Ventura County and has studied pests in Mexico and Central America.

``Our avocados are pretty much in biological control and that's been one of the hallmarks of avocados all along,'' Faber said.

The impact of fruit flies and weevils on California avocados would be potentially devastating, Faber said.

Fruit flies and the seed weevil bore through the thin skin and lay eggs. The larvae will burrow further, seeking the protein of the seed and ruining the fruit. The stem borer weevil causes a wound and oozing that saps a tree of vigor and impacts production.

``Why bring any more in until some evaluation is made as to what pests are down there and the potential impact if they came up here,'' Faber said. ``We would like to have the risks identified.''

Federal agriculture officials have said the proposed import plan contains controls on avocados grown in Mexico to prevent pests from damaging fruit and reaching this country. Those controls include segregating fruit that falls on the ground from picked fruit, time limits for moving fruit into packing houses, and related standards growers must meet to be certified under the import plan.

``It's a pretty stringent set of hoops these guys have to go through,'' Hawkins said.

Avocado commission officials charge that the proposed controls are too complex and unrealistic. They note the proposed shipping of avocados only to Eastern states during winter proves their concerns have merit.

``Everybody would expect us to oppose it for the obvious (economic) reasons, but the important thing is, what do the scientists say?

``There isn't a scientist outside the USDA who says this is a good idea so what's going on here,'' said Affleck, the commission president. ``There is a quid pro quo where our government will do anything to mollify the Mexican government to get agriculture exports into this country.''

Taking the fight to the public, the commission purchased $200,000 of advertising space in national publications for five days this spring. The ads claimed that federal agriculture officials were prepared ``to sign the death warrant for a billion-dollar American industry.''

The primary impact, Affleck said, was only to push back any decision until after the presidential election. ``The proposed rule still hangs there. It hasn't changed, as far as we know.''

If the import proposal takes effect and is controlled as planned, growers said the cheaper Mexican fruit still eventually would reach markets beyond the Eastern states. Growers noted that avocados shipped from Mexico to Canada now reach some Central and border states.

The reason is that Mexican avocados sell wholesale for 15 cents or so less than California avocados.

Prices might reach a middle ground if Mexican imports are allowed. Strong growers could survive and compete, as they have with the importing of avocados from Chile.

``They will cause havoc for one, two or three years maybe. You're better growers will survive, marginal growers won't be able to compete, but then it will balance out,'' said Reeder, the Ventura County orchard manager.

Yet he fears there still would be the potential for migrating pests.

``They do a pretty good job of farming. They're pretty smart and they will do what they can to get in here,'' Reeder said. ``But they cannot get rid of the pests. They're going to send fruit with pests up here and then I'm playing with a different hand.

``When Mexico can prove, not through their system but our system, that they're clean, then we have no problems.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--color in SIMI and CONEJO editions only) Workers sort through avocados in Moorpark where growers, who raise mostly organic crops, say drought poses the biggest danger.

(2--color in SIMI and CONEJO editions only) Local growers claim the import plan was delayed after studies showed nine avocado pests proliferate in Mexican orchards.

Andy Holzman/Special to the Daily News