New App to Report Invasive Pests

Taylor HillmanCitrus, General, Specialty Crops, Tree, nut & vine crops

ACP
There’s a new high-tech way for growers to report invasive pests. Sabrina Hill reports.
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The California Department of Food and Agriculture is introducing a new mobile app. It’s called “Report a Pest”, and it lets people take photos of a suspected invasive insect or plant and send them to CDFA for evaluation. The app is released in conjunction with national Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Species Awareness Month. The CDFA says growers and the public can play an important role in protecting California agriculture and the environment.

For now, the app is available for Apple iPhones and iPads and may be downloaded for free from the Apple App Store. An Android version is under development.

For those who can’t get the app just yet, there is also the “Report a Pest” link on the CDFA’s website. The link has more information on submitting photographs invasive species. The website also tells you how you can submit an actual live sample of the invasive species. It even goes over proper collection methods.

For the CDFA Report a Pest page, click here.