Citrus receives boost from Brown

Governor’s budget has $2.5 million to fight ACP/HLB

Governor Brown’s proposed budget includes $2.5 million to help the state’s citrus industry battle a devastating citrus pest and disease. The money will be used in the industry’s fight to thwart the spread of the Asian citrus psyllid and Huanglongbing, also know as citrus greening disease.

“Once again Governor Brown indicates his support for the California citrus industry with the sustained financial commitment to the Asian Citrus Psyllid/huanglongbing (ACP/HLB) battle being waged in California,” states California Citrus Mutual President Joel Nelsen. “The inclusion of $2.5 million in this year’s budget follows last year’s significant commitment and augments the $15-$18 million put forth by growers annually.”

The psyllid is a tremendous threat to not only the state’s massive citrus industry, but every homeowner with a citrus tree in their yard because it can carry the deadly disease.

HBL is a fatal disease which kills citrus trees. There is no cure or preventive measures at this time and the pest continues to devastate the citrus industry in Florida where the crop there is more than half of what it was just a few years ago. HLB has reduced Florida’s production by 70 percent.

The psyllid first showed up in Florida in 1998 and migrated west to California, showing up in Southern California in 2008. Since then, it has been detected in 26 of the state’s 58 counties. The first psyllid in Tulare County was found on a trap north of Strathmore in 2012.

HLB was first discovered in California in 2012 in a single tree in Southern California, but then there were no new discoveries until 2016 when a HLB infected tree and psyllids with HLB were found just a short distance from that original find.

As of Dec. 19, 2017, according to CCM, more than 285 infected trees have been discovered and removed in the state.

Most of those were in Los Angeles County, but they have also been found in Orange and Riverside counties. The number of trees infected in Los Angeles County more than doubled in the past six months.

“We have been lucky to date,” Nelsen continues, “as we were able to put a program together before the disease and the bug had a chance to gain a foothold in commercial groves. Unfortunately, the disease is spreading in the backyards of Los Angeles, Orange County, and locales South. Finding the disease before it finds the industry has always been the goal, and this budget allocation once again recognizes the scope of the fight.”

Over 200 trees in backyards have been found to have the disease. State policy requires they be removed so as not to become a reservoir for

additional inspection. Analyzing tree material, trapping, and detection are major areas of expenditures.

Additionally, the industry allocates over a million dollars a year in educational efforts which has created a strong partnership with homeowners as they assist in this endeavor. General fund financial support helps solidify that cooperation.

An industry advisory committee works hand in hand with California’s Department of Agriculture to successfully create a program that is being copied in other production areas. Toward the end of 2017 a University of California at Davis researcher discovered a sex pheromone of the psyllid that officials believe will lead to a better trap to both track and capture the psyllid.