Thankless task

Citrus canker, citrus greening, plum pox virus, light brown apple moth and potato cyst nematode. That's the short list of invasive pests that Dr. Ricahrd Dunkle, deputy administrator of the Plant Protection and Quarantine, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, has to worry about. Dunkle gave a run down on USDA efforts to eradicate and/or manage invasive pests to the fruit and vegetable industry advisory committee.

Importantly, he said the USDA will soon publish a rule that will regulate movement of citrus from groves in Florida that have been infested with canker. That rule, in its review stage now, is on a track to be in place by this fall with the start of Florida's citrus harvest this fall.

He said the proposed rule, and a revised pest risk assessment, will shift the focus from pre-harvest to post harvest procedures. From my take on this presentation, he gave every indication fruit that is free of canker symptoms will be shipped out of Florida groves infested with canker to all destinations, including other U.S. citrus producing sates this upcoming season.
"We're looking at arriving at a rule, not based on groves certified free of canker, but will mitigate the disease at the choke point," he said. Post harvest treatments may include waxing or treating the fruit with chemicals that will retard or kill the canker.
Dunkle also said that devising a rule that will satisfy both Florida growers and citrus producing states in the U.S. that do not have and other countries that do no have canker is "not easy."
He also sounded a cautionary note about citrus greening disease, which he says may be worse in its long term effect than citrus canker.

It will be revealing to see if the soon published rule on citrus movement can be in place by this fall, given the fact that California citrus leaders are likely to raise objections. Dunkle noted that other countries with citrus canker (read Argentina) that so far have been precluded from shipping to the U.S. will soon be knocking on the door asking for the same treatment protocol as Florida will receive. Dunkle runs herd on some of the toughest issues in the industry, and to please one segment of the industry will be to bitterly disappoint another.