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Citrus industry needs tighter regulations
It is not a typical situation; a farm group calling for more regulatory oversight, tighter rules and penalties and more crop inspection, but according to Citrus Mutual President Joel Nelsen, it is what the citrus industry needs, as it faces a “death sentence”. That threat comes from the Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) that can carry deadly citrus greening disease (HCP) that has already devastated Florida’s citrus groves.
Nelsen has scolded the citrus industry in recent months after “multiple Asian citrus psyllid finds at or near juice plants in Tulare County.” Another report advised that a breeding population was discovered in a tree at a truck stop along Highway 99 in Tulare.
“It’s no coincidence that these finds are occurring along major thoroughfares and at juice plants. Almost daily, bulk citrus loads are moving uncovered into the Central Valley from southern California,” he said. “Packinghouses are sending dirty bins back into the groves. Equipment is being hauled up and down the highway loaded with plant material.”
“If this continues, the industry will be the cause of its own demise,” he added.
Increasing numbers of the psyllids have been trapped in recent months along the Highway 99 corridor. Neil McRoberts, a University of California, Davis, plant pathologist and panelist at a recent grower meeting, says the overwhelming likelihood is that psyllids are coming into the Valley on bulk citrus shipments from infested areas.
Tarping bulk loads of citrus moving out of quarantine areas, wet-washing fruit in the field and treating fruit prior to harvest are all mitigation measures required to move citrus out of quarantine areas. But different levels of compliance by growers, packers and shippers, plus a lack of enforcement, have allowed the psyllid to hitchhike its way north from infested parts of Southern California.
At a recent local citrus farmers meeting the problem was clearly laid out. According to research out of Florida, ACP populations are greatest within 6.5 miles of major traffic corridors. ACP detections along Highway 99 and Highway 65 in the Central Valley indicate this model is also true in California. It’s also evident, based on the number of psyllid detections at juice plants and packinghouses, that the industry is contributing to the spread of ACP. According to panelist Dr. Neil McRoberts, the Tehachapis are a natural barrier over which psyllids will not travel. The only feasible way psyllids are coming over the Grapevine is by way of human transport – either by the general public, in loads of fruit, or on equipment.
Who is going to make sure more ACP do not travel here on leaf or branch material from Southern California where there is a major infestation? That’s where government can help, officials said.