California Agriculture Officials Declare Victory Over Grapevine Moth
NAPA (AP) - California agricultural officials say they have successfully beaten back an invasive species that was threatening the state's wine industry.
Traps are now turning up only a handful of European grapevine moths. State Department of Food and Agriculture spokesman Steve Lyle told the San Francisco Chronicle early in the year, officials were finding hundreds of moths per trap.
The invaders were first detected in Napa County in September 2009 after one grower lost his entire 9-acre vineyard.
They were later found in nine other counties, including Sonoma and Monterey.
Officials and growers responded with sticky traps, quarantines and insecticides.
Lyle says $8 million has been spent so far on treatment and fruit removal in the state, the vast majority of that coming from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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