Saw this news article yesterday: "DOGE’s Cuts at the USDA Could Cause US Grocery Prices to Rise and Invasive Species to Spread” <https://wired.com/story/usda-food-supply-chains/…> Here are some excerpts: 6,000 employees were let go at the USDA (US Dept. of Agriculture) in February as part of a government-wide purge orchestrated by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Before he received his termination notice, he says, Copeland had just spent several months training the only dog stationed in Florida capable of detecting the Giant African land snail, an invasive mollusk that poses a significant threat to Florida agriculture. “We have dogs for spotted and lantern flies, Asian longhorn beetles,” he says, referring to two other non-native species. “I don’t think the American people realize how much crap that people bring into the United States.” Dog trainers are just one example of the kind of highly specialized USDA staff that have been removed from their stations in recent weeks. Teams devoted to inspecting plant and food imports have been hit especially hard by the recent cuts, including the Plant Protection and Quarantine program, which has lost hundreds of staffers alone. “It’s causing problems left and right,” says one current USDA worker, who like other federal employees in this story asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “It’s basically a skeleton crew working now,” says another current USDA staffer, who noted that both they and most of their colleagues held advanced degrees and had many years of training to protect US food and agriculture supply chains from invasive pests. “It’s not something that is easily replaced by artificial intelligence.” The USDA cuts are being felt especially in coastal states home to major shipping ports. USDA sources who spoke to WIRED estimate that the Port of Los Angeles, one of the busiest in the US, lost around 35 percent of its total Plant Protection and Quarantine staff and 60 percent of its “smuggling and interdiction” employees, who are tasked with stopping illegal pests and goods from entering the country. The Port of Miami, which handles high volumes of US plant imports, lost about 35 percent of its plant inspectors. ----- So for those of us in the U.S., I have questions: 1. Does this mean that plant material that we import will just sit at the inspection station (where the green and yellow label directs it) and remain there (and possibly die) until one of the diminished staff finally gets around to inspecting it? Or will they just start sending a bunch of stuff on uninspected so that the pile of uninspected items doesn’t just keep growing to overwhelming proportions? (And for those so inclined, might this be an opportunity to try to import plants, bulbs, or seeds for which it is difficult to impossible to obtain a phytosanitary certificate from the sender’s country or which are not allowed? 😈🙄) 2. Does anyone know how this will affect the South African bulb order? 3. Should those of us in the US stop trying to import any plants, bulbs, or seeds from abroad for the foreseeable future, or until things get back to “normal” (whenever that will be)? 4. And what about things we’ve already ordered and paid for that are on the way, but might not arrive until after April 2? Even if they do make it through inspection without too much delay, the current plan is to start charging tariffs on everything imported from every country starting on April 2. Will customs hold onto everything that arrives and notify the recipient that they need to pay the new tariff before it will be released? How will that be done? Will they send it on out once the tariff is paid, or do we have to figure out how to ship it from customs to us and pay for any additional shipping charges? 5. I wonder if any new plant pests or diseases really will get in during this time? --Lee Poulsen San Gabriel Valley, California, USA - USDA Zone 10a Latitude 34°N, Altitude 340 ft/100 m _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net https://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> PBS Forum https://…