SUPERVISORS RENEW LOCAL EMERGENCY TIED TO CITRUS GREENING

The Board of Supervisors on Feb. 8 approved the Riverside County Office of Agriculture’s request for a renewal of a local emergency stemming from citrus greening disease.

In a 5-0 vote without comment, the board signed off on Agricultural Commissioner Ruben Arroyo’s emergency declaration, which has been submitted on an ongoing basis for almost five years, connected to the threat to the county’s citrus crops, valued at $187 million.

The Office of Agriculture is under contract with the California Department of Food & Agriculture to act as the enforcement agent to ensure measures are maintained to contain or eliminate greening disease, also known as Huanglonbing, which is spread by the Asian citrus psyllid.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, psyllid infestations have been uncovered in numerous locations in northwest and southwest Riverside County.

In July 2017, a grapefruit tree and two other trees in the area of Chicago and Marlborough avenues in east Riverside became infested with the pests, prompting the state to place a quarantine over a 94-squaremile area encompassing both Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Under the still-active state order, only citrus products that are “commercially cleaned and packed” are permitted to be shipped out of the quarantine zone.

No citrus nursery stock can be moved outside the area under quarantine, and no residentially grown citrus fruit can be moved. However, growers are permitted to consume and share with people within the quarantined locations.

A map of the impacted area, along with the boundaries of similar quarantines in Los Angeles and Orange counties, can be found at www.cdfa.ca.gov/citrus.