{"id":697765,"date":"2026-04-01T17:42:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T17:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/697765\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T17:42:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T17:42:20","slug":"la-mesa-produce-quarantine-effects-sustainability-goals-disrupted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/697765\/","title":{"rendered":"La Mesa produce quarantine effects: Sustainability goals disrupted"},"content":{"rendered":"

La Mesa produce has been under quarantine<\/a> for three weeks now, causing disruptions for food access and local produce recovery nonprofits. <\/p>\n

No one is going hungry because of the quarantine, but it does affect the city\u2019s climate and sustainability goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re having to bring (produce) in from the outside, which is harder on the climate,\u201d said Alexandra White, co-founder and executive director of ProduceGood<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The California Department of Food and Agriculture found Mexican fruit flies while on a routine inspection in La Mesa in March. The invasive species can imperil more than 50 agriculture crops<\/a>, particularly citrus trees. <\/p>\n

Since the pests are difficult to exterminate, the department\u2019s focus is on their containment within a 77-square mile quarantine zone.<\/p>\n

According to the city of La Mesa<\/a>, the area \u201caffects La Mesa, Lemon Grove, and portions of San Diego, Spring Valley, Santee, Bonita, and El Cajon.\u201d (A link to the quarantine map may be found here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\"Mexican<\/a>The CDFA declared a new quarantine area after the discovery of Mexican fruit flies in La Mesa. (Photo credit:\u00a0County of San Diego Communications Office)<\/p>\n

Local produce is still safe to eat. But the department asked backyard growers to consume fruit at home to avoid spreading the infestation to other areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t remove the fruit or take it from the property, period,\u201d White said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While under quarantine, ProduceGood is still bringing produce to local food distributions, like monthly events at La Mesa First United Methodist Church and Journey Community Church. But that produce is coming from other parts of San Diego County not under quarantine<\/a> rather than from within the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI want that fruit fly to be eradicated as well, because we don\u2019t want to lose our trees to pests or have that quarantine grow to other cities,\u201d White said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ProduceGood received a city contract last year to boost gleaning and food recovery efforts. The nonprofit planned to pioneer a crop circle in La Mesa where fruits and vegetables grown in the community fed the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

La Mesans with \u2014 for example \u2014 an orange tree producing more fruit than they could eat could have those excess oranges picked up by volunteers then handed out to La Mesans in need at food distributions. No fuel goes to waste leaving the neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere it\u2019s a bummer is that the city of La Mesa, of course, wants to reduce their edible food waste, so they\u2019re taking every effort they can to enlist the right partners to make sure that the produce is moving and that it\u2019s not going to landfill,\u201d White said. \u201cThat is a bummer, because we have to waste all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Volunteers for ProduceGood at Heaven\u2019s Windows food pantry in Spring Valley. (Photo courtesy ProduceGood)<\/p>\n

ProduceGood has brought its reclaimed fruits and vegetables to food distributions in East County for years. But this contract put a renewed focus on recruiting backyard growers, grocery stores and orchards to donate unsellable produce that would otherwise rot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the last six months, ProduceGood picked up 1,000 pounds of produce in La Mesa and delivered 3,000 pounds of produce within the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since receiving the contract, ProduceGood has slowly forged connections in the community.<\/p>\n

Their efforts were coming to fruition. On the week the quarantine started, ProduceGood had five new growers set to donate for the first time. Those backyard growers could bring in an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of produce per year. <\/p>\n

It was a moment of triumph for the nonprofit after months of work, stymied by the Mexican fruit fly discovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a big exciting thing, because we could move from bringing it in from the outside to actually sourcing it in La Mesa,\u201d White said. \u201cThat\u2019s what the city wants\u2026 They want to make sure nothing in La Mesa is being wasted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With a quarantine expected to go on for at least months, White worries relationships with those donors will fall apart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Backyard fruit picking by a volunteer. (Photo courtesy ProduceGood)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou put a lot of energy and resources into getting that trust built. And then if you\u2019re suddenly not able to deliver, that\u2019s a disappointment,\u201d White said. \u201cThose people could be waiting a year to be able to put that produce to good use in a time when people desperately need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The need is only growing as food insecurity becomes more of an issue. <\/p>\n

Eligibility requirements for CalFresh<\/a> changed this week, after the Trump administration passed its \u201cBig Beautiful Bill\u201d last year. Thousands of newly-disqualified people<\/a> may turn to food distributions without food stamps. Other San Diegans are also increasingly dependent on those food banks as affordability worsens.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of food, we just need to make sure it\u2019s all getting moved equitably, so that everyone\u2019s getting it,\u201d White said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

White hopes the quarantine will end before next year\u2019s growing season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the meantime, she urges people living slightly outside the quarantine zone, say 10 to 15 miles away, to sign up as produce donors<\/a>. Those living within the quarantine area can still volunteer for the nonprofit in picking up and delivering produce.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Find out more ways to help here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"La Mesa produce has been under quarantine for three weeks now, causing disruptions for food access and local…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":697766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[2906,5229,1582,6971,276,11644,291890,10506,291891,291892,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-697765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-agriculture","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-calfresh","tag-california","tag-food-insecurity","tag-fruit-quarantine","tag-la-mesa","tag-mexican-fruit-fly","tag-producegood","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116330689251751391","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}