Plant Industry Division 

The Plant Industry Division is composed of four sections

• Apiary Section registers apiaries and allocates pasturage rights to protect against overpopulation or under population of bees; inspects apiaries for bee diseases, mites and other pests and requires the destruction or treatment of diseased colonies; requires a disease-free certificate on all bees or bee equipment being brought into the state or moved intrastate; educates beekeepers on the proper care and management of bees and the general public on the value of bees as pollinators through beekeeping classes, exhibits, programs, demonstrations and through the distribution of educational literature.

• Commercial Pest Control Section licenses termite and household pest control operators, fumigators and custom sprayers of golf courses, lawns, shade trees, and shrubbery and checks their work to determine compliance with the law and regulations. Inspectors assigned to this section make random inspections of properties under a termite control contract and respond to complaints by property owners.

• Plant Inspection and Quarantine Section inspects nurseries, plant beds and plant shipments; certifies sweet potato plants; strawberry plants and turf grasses; enforces quarantines as follows: sweet potato weevil, phony peach disease, fire ant, soybean cyst nematode; and, enforces the Nursery Fraud Act. The section supervises detection surveys and in some cases eradication efforts for such pests and diseases as Japanese Beetle, Khapra Beetle, Japanese Bloodgrass, Giant Sylvania, Itchgrass, Purple Loosestrife, and Asian Longhorn Beetle; issues certificates for movement of plants and plant products. The quarantine, survey, and detection programs are cooperative with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the USDA. Phytosanitary certificates are issued on agricultural commodities destined for movement to other states and foreign countries.

• Pink Bollworm Section enforces the pink bollworm regulations as follows: gin requirements, movement of cotton products, inspection of gin and harvesting equipment, stalk destruction, and seed sterilization. The section maintains surveillance of this pest for the purpose of preventing the introduction of the Pink Bollworm to Arkansas farms. This is a cooperative program with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the USDA.