Farm Compliance

Norfolk, Virginia - Customs and Border Protection Field Operations agriculture specialists were busy in the Port of Norfolk during December 2008. In all, a total 37 snails and 14 parasitic adult wasps were intercepted by CBP Field Operations agriculture specialists. Both pests could have caused serious damage to the American agriculture industry.

The snails were found on a shipment of stone flooring arriving from France. The parasitic adult wasps were intercepted on bags of fennel seed arriving from India. Invasive snails and wasps are considered serious agricultural threats and are known to cause devastating damage to a wide variety of agricultural crops, particularly grain. They make harvesting difficult and can cause crop contamination. The U.S. Department of Agricultures Systematic Entomology Laboratory determined the snails to be a quarantined significant pest, and the intercepted wasp is a seed feeder. It has been intercepted only five times in the past year.

If not for the interception by CBP, the goods which were destined to Virginia and Indiana could have had disastrous effects on the local agriculture industry with the introduction of these foreign pests. To mitigate the agricultural risk, CBP issued an Emergency Action Notification for re-exportation of the fennel seeds shipment and an EAN requiring fumigation of the stone flooring shipment.

“The Port of Norfolk has a dedicated group of CBP Field Operations agriculture specialists protecting this country from the introduction of harmful pests and plant diseases”, said Mark Laria, CBP Field Operations area port director in Norfolk. “I am very proud of their efforts”.

CBP Field Operations agriculture specialists protect the United States from the threat of invasive pests and diseases through inspection, detection and prevention efforts designed to keep prohibited agricultural items from entering the country. These items, whether in commercial cargo or with a person entering the United States, could cause serious damage to America’s crops, livestock and the environment.