San Diego County - News from Nov. 28, 1994

Agriculture Hearing Scheduled: The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture will hold a public hearing in San Diego on Tuesday regarding a matter important to California avocado growers. The public hearing will be on a Mexican request that the U.S. regulators lift its ban on imports of Mexican avocados in all states except Alaska. Mexico has asked for permission to begin selling fruit in 19 Eastern, Northern and Midwestern states, a move that could hurt California growers who control 90% of the U.S. market. The United States has banned imports of the Mexican fruit since 1914 because of fears that seed weevils, seed moths and other pests that plague Mexico’s crop would threaten production in California and Florida. The hearing could be contentious. U.S. agricultural interests secured provisions in the North American Free Trade Agreement that maintained the quarantine on Mexican avocados, frustrating efforts by Mexican growers to open up the U.S. market. Mexican growers are expected to present scientific studies showing progress in eradicating the pests--evidence that groups representing California’s 6,000 growers will dispute, sources said. The hearing begins at 9 a.m. at the Holiday Inn at the Embarcadero, 1355 N. Harbor Drive.