USDA provides $30m to combat citrus greening

The US Department of Agriculture has granted $30m funding for 22 projects to help citrus producers combat huanglongbing (HLB), a destructive disease also known as citrus greening.

This funding will be used for both projects offering near-term solutions and research programmes that would develop long-terms solutions.

According to USDA, projects that would provide near-term solutions will be funded through the HLB Multiagency Coordination Group and the research projects will receive funding through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative Citrus Disease Research and Education (CDRE) programme.

US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said: "Our HLB Multi-Agency Coordination Group has worked closely with the citrus industry to select and fund projects that we think will make a real difference for growers against HLB.

"Funding these projects through cooperative agreements puts us one-step closer to putting real tools to fight this disease into the hands of citrus growers."

The HLB Multi-Agency Coordination Group has provided more than $7m to support a total of 15 projects focusing on thermotherapy, best management practices, early detection, and pest control efforts.

Out of these, two projects provide improved delivery of thermotherapy to HLB infected trees, with one to test thermotherapy on a grove-wide scale. Six projects will provide citrus producers with best management practices in Florida citrus groves.

Three projects will increase early detection of HLB, while four projects will provide tools to kill the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), the vector of HLB.

On the other hand, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has granted more than $23m for research and education projects.

The funded projects include the development of HLB-resistant citrus cultivars, the development of field detection system for HLB, using heat as a treatment for prolonging productivity in infected citrus trees and creating a new antimicrobial treatment, among others.

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Image: Citrus greening disease on mandarin oranges. Photo: courtesy of USDA APHIS.