Gosar bill tackles ‘greening’ disease
Seeks tax breaks for farmers affected by the citrus-attacking bug
U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Prescott, signed on last week as a co-sponsor of a congressional resolution calling for tax breaks and increased research spending on fighting the spread of the citrus “greening disease,” which has affected all 32 American counties which produce the fruit commercially.
Arizona is one of four states that have commercial citrus farms, and the Emergency Citrus Disease Response Act (H.R. 112) would amend the IRS tax code to “temporarily allow the expensing of certain costs of replanting citrus plants lost by reason of casualty.”
In a statement, Gosar said, “Proactive solutions are necessary from Congress to reduce the tax burden on growers who lose their crops so that they have an opportunity to reinvest and replant. In the meantime, the Department of Agriculture must prioritize funds for researching scientific remedies to end ‘greening’ once and for all.”
The greening disease, also known as huanglongbing or HLB, is caused by a bacteria transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid insect. The bug itself has been in Yuma County since 2009, but no cases of the disease have been reported since then.
Meanwhile, Florida’s citrus industry has shrunk to a third of the size it was 20 years ago, mostly because of the disease’s arrival 10 years ago, though the development of new, more pest-resistant citrus varieties may help the situation.
The bill was introduced in January by Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Florida, and was referred to the House Ways and Means committee. Rep. Dave Schweikert, R-Scottsdale, is also a cosponsor.
Yuma County is now the nation’s largest producer of lemons outside of California. There are now about 10,000 acres of crops, said John Loughry, manager of the Yuma County Citrus Pest Control District, a number that’s been growing mostly because of the California drought, not the Florida HLB infestation.
Citrus greening has been detected about 40 miles away in Yuma, and Loughry said he’s not optimistic the Asian citrus psyllid can ever be eliminated from the area.
“It’s a real mobile insect so all you can do is spray to control the number of insects. It’s not something you’re ever going to eradicate. It’s like flies or mosquitoes now, there’s plenty of them around.”
He said most growers in the area don’t seem to be letting their guard down against the disease, for which there is no cure once it attacks a plant.
“We did do a spraying of all the commercial acreage at the same time about a month ago to try and reduce (psyllids’) numbers. All the growers cooperated on that,” he said.
The insect’s presence triggered a quarantine of all citrus grown in Yuma County, which has grown to include La Paz and Mohave counties and parts of Santa Cruz, Pima and Maricopa counties.