Why Doesn't Nevada Have Ag Checkpoints Like California?

When you enter California from Nevada, you must go through an agricultural check station. When you drive from California into Nevada, there are no checks. Why doesn't Nevada have this checkpoint for infected produce?

California's agricultural economy is, in a word, ginormous, adding around $50 billion annually to the state's economy (not including the impact of agriculture on other sectors, such as shipping and warehousing). To put this in perspective, that $50 billion is the largest ag amount for any state and it's reportedly 12.5% of the total agricultural production for all 50 states.

On the other side of the border, Nevada's ag output totals $765 million, less than 1/50th that of California. Of the total, around $515 million (67.3%) comes from cattle, calves, chicken eggs, turkey, and trout and the rest from hay, onions, potatoes, wheat, and garlic.

California's Border Protection Stations are checking for plant material (fruits, vegetables, plants, etc.) that are in violation of state or federal plant-quarantine laws and the 16 BPS located on major highways entering the state confiscate more than 80,000 lots of plant materials from the 20 million private vehicles and seven million commercial vehicles that enter the Golden State every year.

So California is much more susceptible to, and worried about, bugs and diseases carried into the state via plants and produce than Nevada.

Also, we should point out that California ag officials aren't particularly worried about infestations coming from Nevada; they regularly wave vehicles with Nevada license plates through the checkpoints. They're mainly concerned with vehicles from points east of Nevada and north and south of California.

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Comments

Jackie Aug-03-2019

I should have answered this one

Besides the excellent QOD response you should know it's not a "Nevada" thing.  There are 16 stations covering roadways leading into California from Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona but not Mexico as the US entry checkpoint handles the agriculture checks for the entire US as do their Texas and northern border states with Canada.

Kevin Lewis Aug-03-2019

Added bonus

The checkpoint between Yermo and Barstool also provides an excellent opportunity for asset seizure and forfeiture. Coming back from Vegas with lots of cash after a big score? Next time, wire the money to yourself. Better to pay the small fee than have your winnings pay for Deputy Dawg's retirement party.

The checkpoints provide a convenient bottleneck for law enforcement, because in the (awful) 150 miles from Vegas to Barstool, there is pretty much no alternative route to take. The best you can do is backdoor it through Baker, Death Valley, etc. or take back roads eastward and down to Hwy 58. Each detour adds 3+ hours to your trip, but on a Sunday evening, either might actually be the faster option.

I've noticed that the California Department of All Things Fruity or whoever mans the Barstool checkpoint tends to just wave people through when it's really congested. They probably don't want people going nuts after having spent the better part of a day in a 150-mile-long traffic jam.

jeepbeer Aug-03-2019

Yermo

Note the Barstow/Yermo AG check station is long gone - just a flat spot next to the I-15.  The new station is just south of Primm.

Question of the Day - 03 August 2019

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