Florida Agriculture Commissioner Calls For More Funding To Fight Citrus Greening

Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam called for increased funding to fight citrus greening. USDA just revised its crop estimate for the 2014-2015 season to 103 million boxes of oranges, a decline from the initial forecast released in October.

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Adam Putnam_featured“Now is the time to put all the resources we can toward fighting citrus greening,” said Putnam. “We must do what we can to save Florida’s signature crop.”

The forecast of 103 million boxes of oranges is down from the initial forecast of 108 million boxes and also a decline from the 104 million boxes produced in 2014, the lowest on record. This represents a total decline of 60% since the peak of citrus production at 254 million boxes in 1997-1998.

“State and federal governments, along with Florida’s citrus growers, have dedicated more than $230 million to support research over the past decade, and there are some promising leads,” Putnam said. “I’ve requested an additional $18 million from the state this year to continue in-depth research, grow clean citrus stock, and replant where diseased trees have been removed.”

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It has become obvious to me that the Commissioner of Agriculture doesn’t read his mail. I have sent to him several letters containing information on the successful results of using all natural, non toxic microbial products to both prevent and to cure Greening. The research to develop new trees resistant to greening is a worthwhile endeavor.
However since this approach takes years many growers have gone out of business and yields have decreased.
What was needed from the beginning was someone to direct the millions of dollars in research funds to the most promising cures. The universities and the USDA have wasted both time and money.

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