Some USDA agents frequent this site. Just the "interview" and "inspection" is too much of a "hassle". It raises the possibility of a "visit" especially when the citruses are unique or one of a kind and have only existed outside the USA before, even if the collector has followed all the rules at the time of acquiring the unique cultivars. I believe currently, most hobbyists are importing these unique plants as seeds with proper phyto and then grown here in the US, as it is legal to do so.
This is how some people would mentally perceive the visit from USDA field agents:
"interview" = invasion of privacy, intimidation and interrogation
"inspection" = raid and turn the house and land upside down
"hassle" = mental torture and threats of incarceration
But USDA would have to do their job, and I want them to do their job very nicely, as long as they do them gently, without intimidation, stalking, and interrogatory military style investigations. These inspections are necessary to help protect the citrus industry.
However, most hobbyists and collectors that I talked to, or at least heard about their experiences from others, the encounters with the federal agents are never pleasant. They always seem to watch for a tiny mistake, intentional or not and they are prepared to throw the whole book at you. These collectors and hobbyists would be more cooperative if the focus is shifted to finding sources of possible infected plants and removing them, rather than threats of jail time and hefty fines to ruin one's life. And not to be hypocritical, most of USA's citrus lines were originally collected from outside the country, and also donated by various collectors and immigrants. Some collectors today are helping maintain lines of citruses in remote locations that one day could be used by industry. It is a sad fact that the field agents would still chose not to be forgiving at the same person who has donated so much to increase the germplasm, and that same person is found to violate some of the rules unintentionally, especially when rules have been changed. And the agents are more than eager to throw the books at these same individuals to bring them down just to add credentials to their resume or field achievements to show they know the ropes of being a field agent, without even thinking if their actions are perceived as ruthless and heartless.
