California citrus growers are staying in the loop when it comes to how Florida’s citrus industry is dealing with Huanglongbing. AgNet West’s Taylor Hillman was at the 2014 Citrus Expo in Florida and got an update on the funding that is being put into fighting the problem.
California and Florida’s citrus industries are in 2 drastically different stages of Huanglongbing disease. Talks at the 2014 Citrus Expo in Florida concentrated around the issue and what is being done on all levels to survive. Chief Operating Officer of the Citrus Research and Development Foundation Dr. Harold Browning spoke about how well integrated funding is expediting the process of seeing relief in the field. Dr. Browning agreed with most growers at the expo. No singular fix will be developed to combat HLB and it will likely take a management system to survive the disease and save the industry. Many Florida growers are putting together systems for new trees that may be beneficial to California growers who have yet to be infected.