Japanese beetle treatments are starting: what you need to know

By Amber Betts
WSDA Communications

By now many Yakima and Benton county residents have signed up for free treatment to help WSDA get rid of the pest, Japanese beetle. If you haven’t heard, we have an infestation of an invasive species on our hands in that area, and we are working with the residents there to get rid of it.

One of the ways we are doing that is by using a pesticide to treat properties. Treatments at residential properties are starting late this week or early next week. That means residents will need to know what to do before, during, and after treatment.

If you didn’t sign up, it’s not too late. You can sign
up online, bring your paper form to the nearest city hall, or have one of our agricultural technicians in the community help you sign up on their tablet computers.

If you did sign up, you’ll get a notification by phone 48 hours in advance, letting you know it’s your turn to get your property treated.

Here are a few things we need you to do to complete the treatment without a hitch.

Before treatment

·       Unlock your gates to ensure we can access your yards.

·       Remove children’s swimming pools and toys, and animal food and water bowls from the lawn.  

·       Remove any other items that can easily be moved from your lawn or grassy areas.

During treatment

·       Keep your animals inside.

·       Adults and children should remain inside so as not to interfere with the treatment.

After treatment

Our contractor will leave a door hanger on your front door, and a yard sign in the yard, indicating that the treatment is complete.

After treatment, you should wait until the product has dried before re-entering the area that was treated.

Attempted treatment

If the contractor attempts to treat your property, but cannot, they will leave a note and automatically reschedule. Some reasons they will not be able to complete treatment include locked gates, pets left outside, items left on lawns like dog bowls, etc. Once rescheduled, you’ll be notified of the date and anticipated time window. If a second attempt is unsuccessful, WSDA staff will contact you directly to schedule the treatment and ensure we have communicated efficiently.

Safety information

Health officials consider the product safe if humans, pets, and mammals are exposed. It specifically targets young t larvae or grubs in the ground.

Acelepryn has an excellent safety record when used as directed. If you're still concerned, you can limit direct contact with the product by following these tips:

• Avoid the area and keep pets inside until the treatment has dried.
• If you come into contact with the pesticide, wash the affected skin with soap and water.
• If your clothes come in contact with the pesticide, remove clothing and wash before wearing again.
• Eating produce grown in soil treated with Acelepryn is not expected to cause health effects. However, if you want to avoid exposure, take steps to avoid surface water runoff from areas treated with Acelepryn into home gardens. Learn more about how to prevent runoff when using pesticides.

For up-to-date information on our eradication project, visit agr.wa.gov/beetles

Three years since the stay home directive and Washington is still experiencing hunger

Photo courtesy Nils Johnson, Rural Resources
A photo showing the road conditions Rural Resources
encounters when delivering food to rural clients.

By Amber Betts
WSDA Communications

It was the most beautiful countryside you’ve ever seen. Crisp mountain air, gorgeous views and no sign of city life for days. But, traveling just a few miles took all day to traverse because of the remoteness of the location and the road conditions. When the team reached the elderly members of the community to deliver a food box, some of them lived without help, without transportation, and even without water, and some without electricity.

Recently staff from our We Feed Washington pilot food program, a program initiated by the legislature in response to COVID-19 and changes in federal relief programs, visited and rode along with a partner organization that helps distribute food to those in need in a rural county on tribal lands. Along the way, we realized that this program is so much more than home delivered groceries – it can be a real lifeline for people living with the most modest resources in the most remote parts of our state, doubling in many instances as a health and safety check for these tribal elders.

Despite the state’s best efforts, COVID-19’s impact on food insecurity persists. For some, that insecurity has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. For people in poverty in remote and rural locations across our state, a food security crisis has been continuous. The need recently compounded with the expiration of expanded SNAP benefits, leaving many families wondering how they’re going to feed their families, or themselves.

The WAFood Survey, Wave 4, conducted by researchers at the University of Washington, shows that nearly half the households sampled reported being food insecure in the past month. Further, researchers found that more than half of those food insecure households indicated that affording groceries was their top expense of concern, even slightly more than housing. 

The We Feed WA program was launched at the height of the pandemic to help procure and distribute emergency food to those in need as a state alternative to the federal Farmers to Families food box program that ended in abruptly in 2021. This pilot relief program operates as a compliment and in close cooperation with WSDA’s Food Assistance programs. 

After a brief stabilization in 2022, food banks and other hunger relief organizations began seeing demand increase last fall, said Katie Rains, food policy advisor at the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Many of the hunger relief organizations that WSDA partners with through We Feed WA and Food Assistance programs have indicated that they are serving twice as many customers now as they were in 2020, but with dramatically reduced inventory of emergency food, in some cases 80% less than they had on the shelves this time last year. The demand at food banks continues to grow.   

That’s why we (WSDA) helped fund and support the creation of this latest WAFOOD survey, so that the agency and partners in hunger relief across the state could help understand the experience of households and better inform policymakers on how inflation and reduction of COVID-19 benefits were colliding to impact food affordability.

The food supply is down, the need is up, and SNAP benefits have been reduced to the tune of $93 million less in grocery budgets each month, starting this month. This survey has been a valuable resource for understanding how COVID-19 has impacted household diets and food security since the first wave in 2020. The WAFOOD survey is a joint effort between the University of Washington and Washington State University. 

For more information, visit agr.wa.gov/about-wsda/we-feed-wa or email wefeedwa@agr.wa.gov. The pilot program is part of WSDA’s Focus on Food Initiative, ensuring safe, nutritious, local food is effectively produced and available throughout our state.

A look back on 2022: Drones and hornets

WSDA talks to colleagues and media about
the potential drone use for hornet tracking.

By Amber Betts
WSDA Communications

While we look back on 2022, I’d be remiss to only take a peek from a bird’s-eye view. Some of the work our agency is tasked with involves protecting agriculture by getting rid of and keeping invasive pests out of the state.

Since 2019, our teams have been tracking and removing northern giant hornet (NGH) nests and have garnered lots of experience in the art of nest removal. From visiting South Korea to learn more to removing four nests and learning all the ins and outs of this process, one thing remains true: in Washington state, these hornets have given our hornet trackers a run for their money.

When we found a northern giant hornet, we would radio tag it, and follow that hornet back to the nest.

Trekking through the woodlands of northern Whatcom County proved to be difficult when the NGH trackers began to find nests deep in the woods in tree cavities, often several feet off the ground. The scientific literature suggests that in native environments, NGH typically nests underground. However, in Washington, hornet nests were often located in dense forests with hard-to trek of lands. This made it hard to follow a hornet back to its nest.

These obstacles slowed tracking in two ways; first by requiring ground tracking personnel to cut their way through heavy blackberry growth with machetes, and second by the forest itself interfering with the range the tag’s radio signal could be detected. These difficulties were compounded by the handheld tracking units being limited to detecting a single signal, which was a shortcoming when multiple tagged hornets were in an area at the same time.

Unmanned Aerial Systems

Our tracking teams decided to incorporate unmanned aerial systems (UAS) equipped with radio telemetry hardware to aid in future tracking operations. The first step was identifying if it would be useful in the program. While the program drones haven’t officially taken flight, as soon as the government policy is written and finalized, the sky’s the limit.

WSDA hornet trackers say these drones will be beneficial in rapidly locating an area where a tagged hornet is located. We believe it will also allow them to follow a highly mobile, tagged hornet from above the forest canopy, to cut down on signal interference from the forest itself, and to enable the ground team to track multiple tag frequencies simultaneously in real time.

Speed and efficiency

Speed and efficiency is critical to any eradication effort. While locating the nests via radio tagged northern giant hornets will invariably require the presence of a ground crew with handheld radio telemetry receivers, the aerial tracking system will both increase the efficiency of the tracking operation and reduce safety risks to personnel in certain difficult field conditions.

Flying into the future

Our team is hopeful that as soon as the policies are completed, our hornet tracking abilities can have the takeoff we’ve been dreaming of. Keep an eye on our blog for more on this in the coming months.

Japanese beetle eradication plans underway, consent forms hit mailboxes this week

Grandview was crawling with activity this summer when Japanese beetle adult flight season was in full force. If you don’t already know, we’ve seen a quickly growing infestation of the pest in the area, and this year we started our three-pronged approach to getting rid of this pest and protecting our ag industry from another threat to its vitality. One of those three prongs includes treatment.

That’s where you, residents in the infestation areas, come in.

Treatment

Consent forms should be hitting mailboxes any day. You’ll see a letter from us asking for your permission to treat your property with insecticide. This treatment will be free of charge and we need everyone to join in the effort to help us get rid of this pest before the population becomes too big to control.

If you think you’re in a treatment zone but didn’t get a letter, check your address on our map to see if you qualify for a free treatment. This is one of those efforts that will truly “take a village.”

Trapping

In 2022 we set 3,050 traps, hoping to gauge how many and how far spread out they are, and taking as many beetles out of commission as possible.  That will be one of the efforts we continue on this year too. In 2022, we caught more than 23,000 beetles, that’s less than we captured in 2021. While the numbers were indeed down, the population still spread in acreage. That’s what brings us to our third prong: quarantine.

Quarantine

Limiting what the beetles can ride around on will also be key in keeping the infestation where it is. As we saw from one year to the next, the population of the beetles didn’t grow much, largely due to the efforts of our eradication team and community support, but they did spread out further. That’s why the current quarantine was expanded by emergency rule a few weeks ago.

Residents must also follow the quarantine to prevent spreading the beetles by not moving items known to transport beetles outside of the quarantine area.

To limit the need to move yard debris and other plant material outside the quarantine area, WSDA has established a drop-off site available during the adult flight season, May to October. Businesses and residents can take all accepted items to the Japanese Beetle Response Yard Debris Drop-Off at 875 Bridgeview Rd., Grandview, WA 98930. There is no charge for disposal. Proof of address within the quarantine area is required.

Those moving out of the quarantine area will not be able to take any of the regulated items with them.

Background

In 2020, WSDA first discovered just three Japanese beetles in the Grandview area. Last year the department trapped more than 24,000 beetles. In 2022, teams have caught 23,000 beetles. Japanese beetles are highly invasive pests of more than 300 plants, including roses, grapes, and hops. The adult beetles damage plants by skeletonizing the foliage. Adults also feed on buds, flowers, and fruit on the plants and are frequently intercepted with air cargo from the Eastern U.S. 

The invasive species is not native to Washington state, and has no natural predator to keep it’s population in check. If it becomes established here, agriculture will have a more difficult and expensive task at hand.

Help us spread the word and get rid of these pests!

Looking back on 2022: Hunger relief

Amber Betts
Communications

When I first started working at WSDA, I had a short-sighted view of what our agency did. This is the first of a series of articles looking back at the last year of work my colleagues did. And in the case of this article, I am featuring the work of the Food Assistance programs and celebrating the incredible perseverance of hundreds of hunger relief organizations they partner with to keep food-insecure Washingtonians nourished. While I can’t capture everything this program or any other at WSDA does (because it is much more than many may realize), I will do my best to share some meaningful highlights.

As the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA), it makes sense that our goal is to build better food systems, promote our ag industry, and increase food security. But did you know we have a big role in relieving hunger in our state?

In fact, by working with more than 500 organizations, WSDA helps feed one in every six households in our state. That’s two homes on my tiny block alone. That’s a lot of people. How do we do it?

I asked our team of hard-working, passionate folks in our Food Assistance programs, and we have so many different efforts my head was spinning afterward.

This is just a snapshot of what we accomplished in the past year.

The Food Assistance team runs multiple programs that provide food, funds, technical support, logistics, emergency management, and more to this network of hunger relief organizations. In partnership with these hard-working organizations, our programs have been able to help lessen the impact of food supply challenges, economic instability, and increased community need. Over the past year, these efforts have supplemented the food and nutrition needs of over a million food-insecure Washingtonians and increased economic opportunity for many Washington farmers and producers.

With honor, integrity, transparency, and collaboration, Food Assistance aims to advance equity, expand access to healthy, culturally appropriate foods, and increase ongoing resiliency for the entire hunger relief network of Washington, and all they serve.

Below is an overview of the multiple programs run by Food Assistance – in partnership with hundreds of food pantries, food banks, tribes, and other hunger relief organizations – and their impact in 2022.

Commodity Supplemental Food Program

Strawberries provided for 
emergency food assistance

A federally funded (United States Department of Agriculture – USDA) program that provides necessary food staples to low-income adults 60 years of age and over. Food Assistance provided $510,000.00 to agencies throughout Washington State to run this program. In 2022, 6154 seniors received monthly, nutrition-focused food packages, the value of which totaled $1.9 million.

Emergency Food Assistance Program

A state-funded program that provides funding to food banks and food pantries to assist with costs associated with hunger relief – including food, operating costs, training, and equipment. In 2022, Food Assistance provided $8.3 million in operational funding to agencies throughout Washington State, and these agencies (community food pantries) leveraged the funds to distribute 181 million pounds of food to 8.4 million food insecure Washington residents.

Emergency Food Assistance Program – Tribal

Through this state-funded program, 31 Washington State tribes received $870,000 in operational funding for their tribal food pantry and voucher programs. These operational funds support both food vouchers (with which food can be purchased from community supermarkets) and tribal food pantry operating costs (including food, training, and equipment), helping to feed 27,000 tribal members in 2022.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)

A primarily federally funded (USDA) program that provides food (fresh, frozen, and shelf-stable) to hunger relief organizations (including food pantries and meal programs) for distribution to the community. In 2022, the Food Assistance program purchased and coordinated 894 truckloads and distributed 21 million pounds of food across the state (worth over $30 million), in addition to $7 million of operational funding.

Resiliency Grants and Initiatives

Apoyo obtained a new food delivery vehicle
with support from WSDA grant funding

This program, established in 2021, aims to address crisis and build resiliency in the Washington hunger relief system in response to COVID-19 and its long-term effects. Funded through the state Legislature and the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery fund (part of the American Rescue Plan Act), this program awarded more than $20 million through competitive process grants to hunger relief organizations and tribes across Washington, including many new partners. A diverse advisory committee informed the program’s design.

Some of the resiliency-building projects funded in 2022 included:

• Locally grown, culturally relevant produce purchased directly from small farms for distribution.
• Locally grown and raised bison, beef, fish, and wheat for processing and distribution.
• New and repaired coolers and freezers for increased fresh and perishable food capacity.
• Costs of operation, including delivery, staffing (including living wages), rent, and more.
• Refrigerated vehicles for home delivery, mobile pantries, and regional food distribution.
• Warehouse equipment for increased efficiency, capacity, and safety.

Farm to Food Pantry

This program (established in 2014 with Harvest Against Hunger) encourages local resiliency through the establishment of long-term partnerships between hunger relief organizations and small-scale farmers. Through these partnerships, fresh produce is purchased from small farms, then distributed to food-insecure communities. In 2022, 25 participating agencies across 30 counties created new selling markets for 162 small farms. The $263,700 received directly by farmers resulted in 147,708 pounds of nutritious produce that was distributed to the community through 215 hunger relief locations.

TEFAP Farm to Food Bank

This is a federally funded (USDA) short-term grant program (established in 2019) to help reduce food waste and create partnerships between local farmers and growers with the hunger relief organizations in their area. In 2022, approximately $153,000 was awarded to four agencies to harvest, process, and distribute food donated by local growers. And through these partnerships, 127,098 pounds of fresh and processed food was rescued to be distributed to food-insecure individuals.

Cook WA Meal Kit

A pilot program established in 2022, modeled after meal kit companies like Hello Fresh. The Food Assistance team partnered with SNAP-Ed and Washington chefs to develop nutritious recipes for food pantry customers. Eleven food banks and one tribal nation participated in 2022, co-packing food, sauces, spices, and recipe cards into over 35,000 two-meal-equivalent meal kits for distribution through food pantries.

Reserve Food Warehouse

FareStart mobile market brings fresh food into
communities with limited access thanks to 
funding support from WSDA.

To help with stability in the hunger relief network amidst food shortages and rising food costs in 2022, Food Assistance team members used a partner organization warehouse to hold purchased shelf-stable foods to be released as needed to the hunger relief network. Over 26 truckloads carrying 974,555 pounds of food were purchased, stored, and distributed to the network from this warehouse in 2022.

TEFAP Reach and Resiliency

A federally funded (USDA) short-term grant established in 2022, helping to expand the TEFAP program into more remote, rural, tribal, low-income, and underserved areas by supporting the additional operating costs; $827,000 was awarded in 2022.

Local Food Purchasing Assistance

A federally funded (USDA-AMS) short-term grant program that helps improve regional supply chain resiliency through partnership. In 2022, $2.7 million was awarded to 29 hunger relief organizations and tribes to establish direct purchase partnerships with socially disadvantaged farmers, producers, and ranchers across the state.