California State Quarantine Stings Urban Farmers

A ‘canning party’ helps Root 64 preserve its produce

By Joan Cusick
Comstock’s
Sept 13, 2018

Excerpt:

Urban farmers Sarah McCamman and Randy Stannard never dreamed their most lucrative time of year — heirloom tomato season — would go from boom to bust under a state quarantine.

But then the California Department of Food and Agriculture discovered 15 Oriental fruit flies in the Lemon Hill community of Sacramento, about two miles away from McCamman and Stannard’s Root 64 farm.

This invasive species, normally found in southern Asia, attacks more than 230 types of crops when females lay eggs under the skin of fruits and vegetables. The state quickly imposed a 123-square-mile quarantine, which prevents Root 64 in the Tallac Village neighborhood from selling its current batch of produce off of the farm.

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