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| 01-28-2010
An advisory committee of Florida citrus growers on Tuesday recommended $2.1 million in new research to attack the state's greening epidemic.
And not a moment too soon as several growers in the meeting at the Citrus Research and Education Center said their coworkers have become discouraged about making progress to halt the fatal bacterial disease, which has spread to every major citrus-producing county.
"A lot of people in the groves are discouraged. They think it's the end," said Andrew Pike, a Vero Beach grower and consultant.
Even the more positive comments came with a dash of disaster.
"I'm optimistic we'll find an answer, but I wonder if it will come soon enough to save some growers," said Peter McClure, a grove manager for Evans Properties Inc. of Vero Beach, one of the state's largest growers. "We're in the southeast part of the state, and we're getting hammered."
Evans has lost thousands of trees to greening, and like many other growers, they are not replanting until scientists come up with a more effective strategy to contain the disease, he said.
The advisory committee recommended 24 new multi-year research projects to study the greening bacteria and the Asian citrus psyllid, the bacteria's insect host and the vehicle for spreading the disease.
The new projects will cost $2.1 million in their first year, said Tom Turpen, program manager for the greening research effort.
That's on top of an estimated $13.2 million the program will spend on the second year of some 100 projects approved previously, he said. Those projects cost $16.2 million in the first year.
Read the original article from The Ledger.