Could CDFA’s ACP Control Policy Devastate Our Citrus Industry Like Florida’s?

Citrus Industry is Fired Up Over Softened ACP Control Policy

By Patrick Cavanaugh

It seems that CDFA officials are giving up on controlling the Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) in Central California citrus growing areas! It sure looks like it.

Ever since the May 12 ACP trappings in the Lindsay area of Tulare County, there has been a major back-step in what has been an aggressive mandatory spray program to control any possible live psyllids within an 800-meter radius around the trap.

Now CDFA is suggesting that the spray programs should be voluntary and only 400 feet around the trap find.

According to Joel Nelsen, president of the Exeter-based California Citrus Mutual, “The conversation relative to the change in eradicating or treating for the ACP came about with a discussion between a few members of the scientific community and the department.”

“Frankly, the industry was unaware of this possible change in the program. When it was first released to the AG commissioner, it shocked everybody–is my understanding,” Nelsen said.

“And as a result, last Friday afternoon, the executive committee members from our pest and disease management committee had a very direct conversation with senior leadership of the CDFA. I understand that the conversation was extremely candid, somewhat emotional; if the industry to is going to be supporting a program to the tune of 15 million dollars, they want a say in how the program is run. And evidently, the Department of Agriculture is making some subjective decisions that we don’t believe are appropriate.”

“From my perspective, there were mistakes made at the onset of this program that we had to learn from; and if we don’t take seriously—psyllid control, psyllid control, psyllid control!—we’re going to end up in the same type of quandary that our colleagues in Florida, Texas, Mexico and even Brazil are in.

Too many psyllids, an endemic population, some of which will contract citrus greening disease and eventually contaminate citrus trees, could devastate central California’s $2 Billion industry. “If we even allow one psyllid to continue to foster a population, then we have failed at our effort. And so from the perspective of Citrus Mutual, we are in an eradication mode,” Nelsen said.

“We are in a position in which we can find isolated psyllids and treat, and we are in position where continuous trapping and tapping (with bats and trays in searching for psyllids) and intensive trapping is not finding an endemic population. So for the department to argue that the population is endemic, its a ‘what if’ scenario that we don’t think is appropriate.”

Nelsen said that the pushback by his pest and disease management committee might have made a difference. “I haven’t received anything, but I think that conversation last Friday afternoon yielded some intended results. There’s a reconsideration, and I give a lot of credit to the industry members who stood up the department; but until it happens, its not real,” he said.

Patrick Cavanaugh2021-05-12T11:06:01-07:00June 3rd, 2014|

Science Advisory Report Posted

The California Department of Food and Agriculture‘s (CDFA) Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) and Huanglongbing (HLB) Ad Hoc Science Advisory Panel (SAP) is a group of scientists selected by the Secretary to provide scientific advice to the Department to ensure that they are using the best science available when developing program policy and protocols.

These scientists consist of experts from states that have already experienced the sequence of events associated with ACP/HLB infestation, as well as California-based scientists with local knowledge to ensure a diverse perspective.

The panel met in December 2013 and was tasked with providing recommendations on a series of non-regulatory questions vetted by CDFA.

This report contains the list of questions and the answers from the ACP-SAP. In addition, the report contains the SAP’s comments and recommendations for consideration in the development of ACP/HLB programs in California.

Among the many questions answered in the report, here are a few:

What is the appropriate size of treatment areas around ACP find sites in eradication zones under a variety of scenarios?
Would it be beneficial to freeze dry leaves from asymptomatic, VOC positive trees for future analysis, when technology improves?
With most of the ACP detections in Tulare County being on traps placed on poles rather than within the canopy, should we change trap placement for the ACP program?
On March 23, 2014 we will be 2 years without a HLB detection in California. What should be our exit strategy?

For a copy of the letter, click here.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Citrus Program Manager, Victoria Hornbaker at 916-654-0317 or via email at Victoria.Hornbaker@cdfa.ca.gov.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:38:09-07:00March 19th, 2014|

USDA CREATES MULTI-AGENCY EMERGENCY RESPONSE FRAMEWORK TO COMBAT HLB

USDA Providing $1 million to Jump Start Citrus Response Framework

The U.S. Department of Agriculture TODAY announced the creation of a new, unified emergency response framework to address Huanglongbing (HLB). This new framework will allow USDA and its many partners to better coordinate HLB resources, share information and develop operational strategies to maximize effectiveness.

“USDA listened to the citrus industry’s request for more urgency and greater coordination on the response to HLB and is implementing an emergency response structure,” said Secretary Tom Vilsack. “To jump start this initiative and affirm our commitment to industry, USDA is also providing $1 million to be used in support of research projects that can bring practical and short-term solutions to the growers in their efforts to combat this disease.

Through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative of the Farm Bill, USDA has provided $9 million in research to blocking the ability of insects to spread HLB to healthy trees. We need Congress to quickly pass a new Farm, Food, and Jobs Bill that continues to support this kind of research to protect a crop worth more than $3 billion in the last harvest.”

The new framework will bring together USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), along with state departments of agriculture and the citrus industry into a Multi-Agency Coordination (MAC) Group for HLB. It will provide industry with a single contact for all the federal and state entities that work on citrus issues and better enable the collective to collaborate on policy decisions, establish priorities, allocate critical resources, and collect, analyze, and disseminate information.

The HLB MAC Group will also help coordinate Federal research with industry’s efforts to complement and fill research gaps, reduce unnecessary duplication, speed progress and more quickly provide practical tools for citrus growers to use.

HLB, also known as citrus greening, is named for the green, misshapen, and bitter-tasting fruit it causes. While this bacterial disease poses no danger to humans or animals, it has devastated millions of acres of citrus crops throughout the United States and abroad. In the United States, the entire States of Florida and Georgia are under quarantine for HLB, and portions of California, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas are also under quarantine for the disease. The U.S. Territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are under HLB quarantines as well.

You can find more information about HLB and the HLB MAC Group on USDA’s Multi-Agency Response toDevastating Citrus Disease website.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:42:29-07:00December 13th, 2013|