Citrus industry expects state-mandated disease protection this year

By WES SANDER
Capital Press

A citrus-disease bill should be a sure thing this year, barring any bad luck.

Last year, with California in the earlier stages of a continuing budget crisis, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger put the brakes on all legislation to emphasize his budget-balancing priorities.

Among the legislation was a bill to help shield nurseries from new disease threats, forcing citrus growers to wait another year for the state to establish a Citrus Nursery Stock Cleanliness Program.

That program is now included in Senate Bill 140, which was introduced by Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro. Corbett's bill would charge the Department of Food and Agriculture with running the program.

Orchardists are looking at recent events in Florida and feeling an urgency to create a structured program for curbing disease. The biggest potential threat to California orchards is Huanglongbing, which has already caused extensive damage to Florida's citrus industry.

Huanglongbing is caused by bacteria carried by the tiny Asian citrus psyllid, which eats the leaves of trees. The disease, also known as greening, causes fruit to stay green and go bitter.

It spread through parts of Asia and Africa before showing up in Brazil in 2004. It appeared the following year in Florida, where it has claimed hundreds of thousands of acres of citrus.

Citrus canker, which has likewise attacked Florida's industry, is another disease on the radar. The state's voluntary nursery-pest system, under the Citrus Pest Inspection Program, doesn't offer sufficient protection from such diseases, Corbett said. Nursery producers have been trying to strengthen the rules for years. Though they have mostly withdrawn opposition, some nursery operators raised concerns this year about cost and fairness regarding quarantine structures that would affect regions of the state differently.

They also objected to the authority that the bill would give CDFA to determine the costs to operators. But Corbett's office reported that disagreements have been worked out.

Even those in opposition recognized the need for such a program, Corbett said.

"They (support it) because they recognize that we must be proactive and not wait for the next outbreak to occur, which could be very devastating to the state of California," Corbett said.

Huanglongbing presents the worst threat to California citrus since the spread of tristasia in the 1930s and 1940s, said Bob Blakely, director of industry relations with California Citrus Mutual, a trade association claiming 2,200 members.

"As growers, we want to be sure that we're assured of safe, healthy trees," Blakely said. "I think (these diseases) have got everybody focused on making sure that we have protections in place.

"We're pretty assured that once the budget situation passes, this bill will move forward," Blakely said.

Staff writer Wes Sander is based in Sacramento. E-mail: wsander@capitalpress.com.