North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Don Yellman <don.yellman@webformation.com>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Importing Fig Cuttings
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 02:57:13 -0500
From: Don Yellman <don.yellman@webformation.com>
To: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org

Lloyd:

The U.S. Agency concerned with importation of plant material is not the FDA 
(Food and Drug Administration), which is part of the Dept. of Health, 
Education and Welfare, but the APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection 
Service), part of the Department of Agriculture.

Google "Aphis", and go their website, following directions to the sections 
concerned with importation of plant materials.  I think you will find that the 
fundamental requirement for legal importation of plant materials is a phytosanitary 
certificate from the agricultural authority of the country where the materials 
originate (the exporting country).

Depending on the country or countries where you plan to obtain the fig 
cuttings, that could be quite a task.  If you are dealing with a first-world 
country, such as Italy, where a reasonably capable administrative authority 
exists, you might be able to obtain such a certificate by working through a 
commercial nursery that regularly exports plant materials.  I wouldn't hazard 
a guess on the time and expense that might be involved with such an effort, 
but I very much doubt that it would be worth it.  If you have specific fig 
varieties from specific countries in mind, you might be better off searching 
for them from U.S. sources.  Collecting fig cuttings from overseas locations, 
then showing up at U.S. Customs with a declaration of plant materials that 
are not accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate will almost certainly 
result in the plant materials being seized.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA