In the News - August 2009
Hay producers need to be aware of fire ant quarantine rules
LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas producers selling a strong hay crop in a
drought-driven market need to consider fire ant quarantine rules before
shipping, according to the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and
the Arkansas State Plant Board.
With Texas and other areas sustaining drought conditions, the market for
Arkansas hay is robust. Fire ants, a danger to humans, livestock and electrical
equipment, often hitchhike in agricultural materials such as hay or nursery
plants and infest new areas.
Terry Walker, director of the Plant Industry Division of the Arkansas State
Plant Board, said if hay from Arkansas is shipped to a non-quarantined area, the
hay recipient has to determine if the hay came from one of Arkansas' quarantined
counties.
"We're trying to work with producers who are in non-quarantined areas
shipping into non-quarantined areas," Walker said. "We've offered to send our
inspectors out and they will write a permit specifying that the hay originated
in a non-quarantined county. That way the receiving area doesn't have to wonder.
"That's a pretty handy deal for the shipper not to have to fight that hassle,
because sometimes the receiving state will say they don't want it and the
shipper will have to load it up and take it back," he said. "That's a big
expense."
Shipping hay from fire ant quarantined areas is "not as big an issue this
year as it was a couple of years ago when a lot of the hay was going to
Tennessee and Kentucky" where there are no fire ants and shipping from infested
states was a problem, said Kelly Loftin, extension entomologist and associate
professor with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
Last week, Loftin issued an advisory about the fire ant quarantine to county
agents in Arkansas.
"Whether it's an issue or not, it's still fresh on the minds of farmers and
hay shippers, so that's why they're asking the county agents about shipping
hay," he said.
As of January 2008, 33 of Arkansas' 75 counties are under quarantine and
producers in those quarantined areas may not to ship agricultural products to
non-quarantined areas without meeting certain requirements outlined by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS.
Under quarantine as of January 2008 are: Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot,
Clark, Cleveland, Columbia, Dallas, Desha, Drew, Faulkner, Garland, Grant,
Hempstead, Hot Spring, Howard, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lincoln, Little River,
Lonoke, Miller, Montgomery, Nevada, Ouachita, Perry, Pike, Polk, Pulaski,
Saline, Sevier, Union and Yell counties.
The Arkansas State Plant Board has established a "Protocol for Hay Movement
in Relation to Imported Fire Ant Quarantine Requirements" to help hay producers
prepare and ship their products according to those regulations.
Preventative measures
According to APHIS, there is no single treatment method that can remove all
the imported fire ant colonies from hay while at the same time making sure the
hay can't be re-infested.
Because hay is generally sold for livestock consumption, it can't be treated
with insecticides that might offer that assurance, but there are ways producers
can reduce the risk that their hay bales will become infested or that the
infestations will spread.
Those preventive measures include:
- Putting a food source - a dab of peanut butter or a piece of
sausage, for example - on a hay bale for an hour and then checking
back to make sure no ants are present before shipping;
- Using high-pressure hoses to wash soil from support tires,
wooden pallets and other shipping materials before loading the hay
bales onto trucks;
- Elevating the hay bales off the ground by putting them on tires
or wooden pallets to discourage ant colonies from moving in.
Broadcast bait applications of approved insecticides can be used
around the hay storage area.
Hay bales stacked on a second or higher level are not subject to regulations
that restrict movement, Walker said.
"Our interpretation of the regulation is that if it's not stored in direct
contact with the soil, if it's a second layer up, then it is eligible for
movement," he said. "Again, a shipper would be wise to get certified with a
plant board inspector saying that it was not stored in direct contact with the
soil."
More information about fire ants can be found at
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/
fireants/index.shtml.
For a zip code locator of regulated areas, see
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/
fireants/zipcode.shtml .
For more information about fire ants, visit the extension's Web site,
www.uaex.edu, or contact your county extension
agent.
The Cooperative Extension Service is part of the University of Arkansas
Division of Agriculture and offers its programs to all eligible persons
regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability,
marital or veteran status, or any other legally protected status, and is an
Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer..
August 28, 2009
By Kimberly Dishongh
For the Cooperative Extension Service
Media Contact: Elizabeth Fortune
Extension Communications Specialist
U of A Division of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service
(501) 671-2120
efortune@uaex.edu
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