California growers build war chest to fight citrus greening

A new disease prevention program would levy a penny-per-carton assessment that would start with the harvest of oranges, lemons and other citrus fruit this fall. A California Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Committee would also be created to oversee the program. Within two years, assessments could be hiked to between 5 cents and 7 cents per carton, said Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual. The assessment would be capped at 9 cents. A nickel would raise $8.5 million, he said.
During visits to Florida, Nelsen saw red ribbons tied to citrus trees doomed by the greening disease. More than 200,000 acres have been destroyed or abandoned in Florida because of the disease, he said.
"We've tried to identify steps we should take so that we do not make the mistake that Florida did, which was to ignore the threat," Nelsen said.
The threat has become more ominous with discovery of the Asian citrus psyllid in various urban areas in close proximity to the state's citrus growing regions, including finds in Fresno, which neighbors Tulare County, where navel oranges alone are a $415 million crop.
Hundreds of backyards in Los Angeles County are now infested with the psyllid, Nelsen said.
"Simultaneously we're looking at Imperial County, San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino, and there was a significant find in Orange County," he said.