A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ® C A L I F O R N I A Trees & Vines ®
Oranges roll on conveyer belts at a Tulare County packinghouse in the file photo above. To prevent spread of the Asian citrus psyllid, right, citrus fruit moving within and between quarantine zones is tightly regulated.
Photo/Mike Lewis, University of California, Riverside
Fruit movement a focus in fighting citrus disease ByDennis Pollock
an inch long or less, from escaping. “It’s as small as the tip of a pencil,” Tucker said.
Packinghouses face challenges to prevent the spread of a dangerous vector-borne dis- ease that candestroy the fruit theypackanddevastate farms acrossCalifornia’s citrusbelt. “We need to protect the industry and not move the vector or the disease,” said Keith Watkins, vice president of Bee Sweet Citrus and operations subcommittee chair for the Citrus Pest andDisease PreventionProgram. The vector in this case is the Asian citrus psyllid, which can spread the disease huanglongbing, or HLB. It has already crippled the Florida citrus industry and threat- ens California’s. The issue is critical for the San Joaquin Valley, which boasts more than 70% of the state’s citrus acreage. It’s led by Tulare County, the state’s perennial leader in fresh citrus production. Local agriculture officials in the valley have been offering briefings on safeguarding packinghouses, farms and the citrus industry as awhole. One of the top precautions they suggest is to keep psyllids from spreading by tarping truckloads of fruit. Tom Tucker, Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner, emphasized the need to do that properly under requirements put in place in 2017. He said tarps must extend down the sides to truck beds to keep the psyllids, which are an eighth of
The tarpsmust beused formovement of juice, anywhole fruit parts andbulkcitrus that has beenbrushed, washed, waxedandpacked in standard container ready forwholesale or retail. Movement within and between quarantine zones is tightly regulated. It is tracked through lotsof paperwork, includingnotices 72hours inadvance for routes extendingone quarantinezone toanother. Then there’s a24-hournotice required toapackinghouse that is receiving fruit in a different zone. Tucker saidtherehasbeenamarkeddecrease in2021 innumberof violationsconnected to citrus inspection. Violations were highest in 2019, he said. VictoriaHornbaker, a citrus programmanagerwith theCaliforniaDepartment of Food and Agriculture, credited establishment in 2009 of the 17-member California Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Committee. The first California detections of the psyllid were near theMexican border in SanDiego County in 2008. The first detection in the Central Valleywas in 2012. Most of the detections were along transportation corridors, hence the move toman- datory tarping.
See CITRUS, Page 8
September 8, 2021 Ag Alert 7
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