Construction starts on $6.3 million USDA facility to battle medfly

A $6.3 million prototype building under construction in southern Manatee County is set to become the Florida epicenter of a stepped-up war scientists are waging on the Mediterranean fruit fly, New World screwworm flies and other invasive pests threatening Florida crops and livestock.

The 28,210-square-foot building, the first of its kind in the world, will be operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture when it opens in September in the University Park of Commerce, a few minutes north of Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.

Currently, the USDA program operates out of a converted ice cream plant in northern Sarasota County. Scientists will be able to double their production of sterile medflies from 100 million a week to 200 million a week in the new facility, said Roger Osborne, chief executive officer of North Florida Government Properties, the owner and developer of the project.

The sterile medflies are loaded into a twin-engine aircraft flying out of Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport and doused in ginger oil, which increases their libido. They are then dropped through a trap door at 2,000 feet over infected areas in Pinellas, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

After the sterile medflies mate, their female partners lay eggs that will not hatch, interrupting the pest’s life cycle and short-circuiting the infestation of fruits and vegetables.

In addition to being able to ramp up production of sterile medflies, the new facility will be able to respond to a second non-related threat, such as the New World screwworm.

The flesh-eating screwworm, which is now threatening Key deer and livestock in the Florida Keys, is being fought on the ground. But should the threat spread to the mainland, the USDA could use its aircraft to attack screwworm flies from the air.

Another concern is that with the widening of the Panama Canal, more new pests could be on their way to Florida from the Far East via the larger container ships, Osborne said.

Manatee-Sarasota has not had a medfly outbreak since 2011, and there has never been a medfly found at Port Manatee, the Herald previously reported.

Release of sterile medflies offers a more environmentally friendly approach to pest control than the aerial spraying of the insecticide malathion, which raised alarms about its possible affect on humans, Osborne said.

The USDA also operates similar programs in Texas and California, where the Mexican fruit fly is a threat. The USDA will use the Florida prototype in the two western states to replace outdated facilities.

Halfacre Construction Company of Lakewood Ranch serves as project manager for the USDA facility.

The new facility will include a full lab that will help scientists with their research on any pest that might threaten Florida agriculture, said Reed Giasson, a vice president at Halfacre.

“We should have the building ready for the move-in by September. We just started construction a week ago,” Giasson said.

Halfacre has experience building a wide variety of projects, ranging from the new air traffic control tower at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, to Gold Coast Eagle Distributing and the Palmetto boat ramp.

Other members of the project team include architect Ugarte & Associates of Palmetto and Allison Engineering Group.

This story was originally published December 2, 2016 at 2:49 PM with the headline "Construction starts on $6.3 million USDA facility to battle medfly."