The Threat of Citrus Greening

Fruit drop has been a big problem for Florida citrus growers during the 2012-2013 season.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Gene Albrigo, UF/IFAS

Since it was found in Florida in 2005, the bacterial disease citrus greening has done tremendous damage to fruit trees in the state, and could potentially kill the entire industry there:

So far, greening is thought to have shrunk commercial citrus production in the state by about a third, from eight hundred and fifty thousand acres under production in 2002 to five hundred and twenty thousand today. (During the state’s real-estate collapse, some growers discouraged by the spread of greening and unable to sell their land simply abandoned their groves, leaving psyllids to multiply unchecked.) This spring, greening is being blamed for an unprecedented “fruit drop,” in which eighteen million boxes worth of oranges and grapefruit fell prematurely. Growers have hired extra pickers to try to save some of the fruit, but losses are estimated at a hundred and thirty-eight million dollars, and more are expected as Valencia oranges continue to ripen in coming weeks.
Some citrus experts predict that unless greening is contained, Florida citrus crops will be gone within five years. “Among the many diseases of citrus that have invaded or could invade Florida, greening represents the greatest threat to the industry,” a National Academy of Sciences panel wrote in 2010. And the damage won’t be limited to Florida: the disease has now been identified in California and Texas, and Arizona is watching for its first case.
Southern Gardens Citrus, which supplies not-from-concentrate Florida orange juice to major brands, is betting on genetic engineering as a long-term defense against greening, and has invested more than six million dollars in research on greening-resistant trees. “Some things are motherhood, and Florida orange juice is one of them,” the company’s president, Rick Kress, said. “We’re going to find a solution.”
Back at the Citrus Experiment Station, the entomologist Michael Rogers and his colleagues aren’t so sure.

Wow.  More information on citrus greening here. Invasive pests are doing so much damage. With the emerald ash borer around, I doubt that we'll have any live ash trees in our area within 5 years or so.  There's also Thousand Cankers Disease working on walnut trees.  We're going to have a very different environment in the not too distant future.