Pest Exclusion (PEx) is the first line of defense in keeping out unwanted pests.  Inspections are performed on plant shipments coming into and leaving San Diego County in addition to annual inspections of production nurseries to look for damaging pests.  PEx is made up of several programs all designed to facilitate the smooth flow of business while protecting agriculture and the environment.

• Nursery Inspection Program performs hundreds of annual inspections of production nurseries throughout the county to ensure cleanliness and proper licensing
  
  
• Export Program certifies thousands of San Diego’s outgoing agricultural products every year; ensuring shipments meet the plant cleanliness requirements of the importing country, state, or county
  
  
• High Risk Pest Exclusion Program inspects shipments of produce and plants coming into San Diego County from other counties, countries, and states for exotic pests and proper certification
  
  
• Detector Dog Teams inspect parcels arriving in the county by express carriers such as FedEx and UPS
  
  
• Sudden Oak Death (SOD) monitors local nurseries to ensure they remain disease free from SOD (Phytophthora ramorum)
  
  
• Pierces Disease Control Program (PDCP) (En Español) helps to protect grapes, California’s second largest crop, against Glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS) which spreads this deadly disease
  
  
• PEx works cooperatively with local, state, and federal organizations on joint operations to enforce and monitor pest quarantines.  Some recent examples are the Mediterranean fruit fly, Asian citrus psyllid, and light brown apple moth quarantines