LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico agriculture officials are reminding the public that a quarantine is still in place around an invasive bug threatening the pecan industry.
The state’s Department of Agriculture said Wednesday that the so-called pecan weevil quarantine rule affects the movement of in-shell pecans in quarantined areas, including Eddy, Lea and Chaves counties.
Under the rules, in-shell pecans cannot be transported out of quarantined areas unless they have undergone storage requirements.
In late 2016 and January 2018, the weevil was found in pecan orchards in multiple southeastern New Mexico counties. The quarantine was intended to prevent the spread of the pecan weevil to the rest of the state until March 1, 2023.
Pecans were the highest crop commodity in the state in 2016, with cash receipts totaling $213 million.