CA agriculture inspection

[moonman239]

When you enter California, you go through an agriculture inspection station. There, they will either see/ask if you have anything that it is illegal to import into California, for example pecans obtained outside Nevada. My understanding is that this is to prevent crop-destroying pests from getting a ride into the state (the state is surrounded by natural barriers that make it hard for pests to get into the state without help).
However, I don't believe that is an effective long-term solution. If the people want such pests out, they should figure out how to repel them, not rely on the state. Those inspection stations should go and CA should lift the ban on agricultural items that the USDA allows to be planted or imported into the US.

[baja_yu]

What I think is that you should forget about politics and enjoy life while you're still young. You don't get many carefree years, so use them wisely. There'll be plenty of time to worry about stuff you can't do anything about later.

[techgnome]

Not a long term solution? Pffft! you act like this is something new ... this policy has been in effect for over 30 years... between that, and the regular malathion sprayings... I'd say it's been effective. And the problem didn't come from plants imported into the US then into Calif... it came from within the US into Calif... I've seen the damage the simple fruit fly can cause... it's significant enough to seriously damage the agricultural economy beyond repair.

-tg

[Shaggy Hiker]

Ultimately, it probably will fail. Idaho is doing the same thing to stop the spread of imported aquatic pests. Several contaminated boats have been identified, which makes a person wonder how many got by (fortunately, Idaho is generally not a destination, especially for boats, since we have so few boatable waters). However, in the absence of any viable alternative, this step will at least delay a very costly problem.