The Invasion of Florida

Miami

Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Doyle Conner was attending a meeting of Southern farm officials in Baton Rouge, La., last week when he got the news. He left immediately for Miami. There, in a sour-orange tree in the backyard of a home in the Little Havana district, a state agriculture inspector had discovered one female and three male Mediterranean fruit flies in a trap. The medfly, as it is known, is a dreaded pest that could devastate Florida's billion-dollar citrus and vegetable industry if allowed to spread. Said Conner: "We're very concerned. This is obviously an infestation."

An eradication program was immediately launched. An 81-sq.-mi. area surrounding the find was put under quarantine, and aerial spraying of the pesticide Malathion, successfully used in California's $100 million 1980-82 war against the flies, began. Farm officials believe the flies may have entered the state on a plane or boat from Central or South America.