Opinion: Fighting For Citrus Is Worth It
June 1, 2009 Sometimes I am asked by folks outside the citrus industry, “Why does your magazine cover citrus greening so much?” It is a fair question that even I ponder from time to time. But, everytime I attend a meeting focused on greening, I find a full house. More importantly, everytime I visit a grower like this year’s Citrus Achievement Award winner, Peter McClure, and hear stories on the devastation the disease is bringing, I know this is a problem we can’t cover enough.
Good Growers
While I’ve only covered this industry for a couple of years, I’ve already gained a deep respect for its people because they are like many of the growers of other crops I’ve been privileged to interview in my career in ag journalism. They are good people who love the land and producing the food that feeds us all.
Peter is one of those people. He was kind enough to give me a tour of Evans Properties’ Bluefield grove when I interviewed him for this month’s cover story. What struck me right away was the wide swaths of the once 12,000-acre grove that had been taken out by canker eradication. Among the roughly 6,000 acres of trees that remain, McClure understands that citrus greening presents a much greater threat than even canker.
As chairman of the Florida Citrus Production Research Advisory Council, McClure has dedicated countless hours poring over research proposals aimed at defeating citrus greening. He has traveled the country and attended meeting after meeting focused on this problem that scientists say could be the worst known in any commodity.
He has done all this work selflessly and in a good-humored manner that gives others faith that the citrus industry can prevail, even as he admits the situation appears bleak at this time.
Plain Spoken
Last year, I saw Peter speak to a group of about 400 scientists in Orlando at the International Research Conference on HLB. After hearing presentations from the scientists that flew way over my head, it was heartening to hear Peter bring it home in simple words that this is a hard problem, but one we could solve if we resolved to bring the research solutions that those scientists might find to the field. And, that he was in for the fight because he loves growing citrus like his family has done for three generations. I scanned the room and saw other growers nodding to a language that they could understand.
While Peter is plain spoken, I learned during my interview with him that he has gained a broader scientific understanding of citrus greening in the course of his work directing research efforts into the problem. I think that is why he has been so active in trying to blow the whistle on this industry-threatening disease. For this, he deserves much credit.
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