APHIS Updates the Witchweed (Striga spp.) Regulated Areas in North Carolina and South Carolina

FOR INFORMATION AND ACTION
DA-2024-26
July 25, 2024

Subject:  APHIS Updates the Witchweed (Striga spp.) Regulated Areas in North Carolina and South Carolina

To:  State, Tribal, and Territory Agricultural Regulatory Officials

 Effective immediately, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is updating how the agency describes sites in the regulated areas for witchweed (Striga spp.) in North Carolina and South Carolina. APHIS will describe sites in the regulated areas listed in 7 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) § 301.80-2(a) using the center point of the site, the total number of acres in the site, and the site type (e.g., field/pasture, residential, right of way, etc.). The updated description will remove landowners’ names from the regulated areas in 7 CFR § 301.80-2(a) and will result in more accurately defined areas by identifying specific fields rather than entire farms.

After the above changes, the total regulated area for the United States is 2,530 acres. The total regulated area for five North Carolina counties is 1,969 acres: Bladen County (825 acres in 88 sites), Cumberland County (529 acres in 62 sites), Pender County (62 acres in 8 sites), Robeson County (449 acres in 27 sites), and Sampson County (104 acres in 8 sites). The total regulated area for two South Carolina counties is 561 acres: Horry County (432 acres in 32 sites) and Marion County (129 acres in 21 sites). The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and Clemson University Department of Plant Industry have each established a parallel state quarantine.

APHIS regulates witchweed because it is a parasitic plant that affects corn, sorghum, sugar cane, rice, and other important crops. APHIS appreciates the cooperative relationship with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and Clemson University Department of Plant Industry in the effort to eradicate witchweed. APHIS will follow this action by publishing a notice in the Federal Register.

More information about the Witchweed Eradication Program and Federal witchweed regulations is available on the APHIS witchweed webpage. For additional information you may contact:

Anne LeBrun
National Policy Manager
(301) 851-2259
anne.lebrun@usda.gov

/s/

Dr. Mark L Davidson 
Deputy Administrator 
Plant Protection and Quarantine 

Federal Order (164.76 KB)