U.S Customs And Border Protection Newest Addition to Farmer's Market
By
KGNS News
Story Created:
Sep 15, 2012 at 7:13 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Sep 16, 2012
"Most of the pests we have here have been picked up at the port of entry."
USDA Officer, Gerry Gonzalez, says he's happy to offer outreach to the community about what they do, specifically about checking for insects that could pose a threat to local agriculture.
"We have entomologists, botanists and basically we'll look at the pest and say this is a pest that we want or we don't want in the country."
Options are refusing entry of the shipment.
"Or we conduct a fumigation."
Chief Agriculture Specialist with U.S Customs and Border Protection, David Gonzalez, says kids enjoy looking at the insects on display, while adults have other questions
"Why certain fruits and plants are not allowed to enter the country."
Gonzalez is glad to be at the farmer's market since most of the products are grown in people's yards. This new partnership will hopefully educate those who may see a potentially dangerous insect.
"They might be seeing something in their orchard or in their backyard and they might want us to look at it and we'll do that because that's our job."
