Snails, Citrus Canker, and the Southeastern Farmer of the Year

With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.

We’re hopping around the headlines today…starting with snails in Florida.

After the Florida Department of Agriculture announced a quarantine in Pasco County earlier this summer due to an invasive species, crews have been working to eradicate the threat. Close to 3,000 Giant African Snails have been found, The snails carry a parasite that can cause meningitis. They can also cause damage to vegetation and other local animal populations. According to the Associated Press, Florida has twice before eradicated the snails in other parts of the state, most recently a 10-year effort in Miami-Dade County that cost $23 million and ended in 2021 after collection of about 170,000 snails.

Effective immediately, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries are establishing a quarantine for citrus canker for all of Baldwin County, Alabama. Under the regulations, the interstate movement of citrus plants and plant parts, other than commercially packed and disinfected citrus fruit, remains prohibited.

And, on a lighter note out of Georgia, Scotty Raines has now been selected as the Swisher/Sunbelt Ag Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year. Growing cotton, peanuts, corn, watermelon, and beef cattle, Raines started his agrarian career as a child selling produce from his own garden.