Opinion: Time For Action, Unity Against Greening
August 1, 2009 Of the citrus industry it has long been said that it is a tad bit provincial. Okay, maybe more than a tad bit, but I saw great unity of purpose recently during Florida Citrus Mutual’s Annual Conference in Bonita Springs. More than 600 growers and allied industry were in attendance, and of course, the focus was largely on citrus greening. These weren’t just Ridge growers, Indian River, Gulf, or Peace River growers. These were Florida citrus growers who understand the gravity of the situation they face.
Just One Chance
There was good news at the conference in that much of the first day was dedicated to explaining the new and massive research effort targeting citrus greening. There were presentations by members of the newly formed Florida Citrus Research and Development Foundation. This group’s purpose is to treat research more like a corporation than academia. The idea being: What good is a research breakthrough that stays in the lab or in some field trial? The Foundation will help usher breakthroughs in science into product development and commercialization, so it gets in the growers’ hands more quickly — where it is desperately needed.
I think Peter McClure summed it up so well when I presented him the Florida Grower Citrus Achievement Award during the conference’s banquet. He said, “We’ve only got one chance to beat this problem. And, we have to do it right the first time.”
When he said “we,” he meant growers. Growers must drive this process and not be hampered by outside forces that in normal times can slow down the process of science turning into a workable solution in the field. For these times, he emphasized, are too critical for slow action or mistakes.
Grower Appreciation
Peter also rightly thanked the growers during his acceptance speech for unifying to help fight greening and funding much of the current research push with their own money. As he said, “There ain’t nobody bailing us out.”
The good news is the extra focus on research is bearing fruit already. Recently, several insecticides received registration for low-volume application to control the citrus psyllid. This is a result of the ramped up research effort, and it will save growers money and help them cover more ground more quickly when applications are made. Chemtura, the Citrus Achievement Award sponsor, had its product Micromite approved for this usage.
What Mutual’s annual conference drove home to me is that we are all in this fight together. We will win it together or lose it together. I was pleased to see so many Florida citrus growers in Bonita Springs committed to winning the battle. As Peter said, “I am not going down without a fight.”
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