Agriculture on Tuesday announced more than $1.5 million in new money toward biological warfare against the citrus greening disease, including $530,000 that will help double the capacity of the Dundee Biological Control Laboratory.The Dundee lab breeds a parasitic wasp lethal to the Asian citrus psyllid, the insect host of the greening bacteria and the main vehicle for spreading the disease. The USDA money will also go to California and Texas facilities to enhance wasp breeding in those citrus states.
"What I really like about this allotment of money is that it's broken up equally in three ways to Florida, Texas and California. It's bringing us together," said Trevor Smith, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services chief who oversees the lab.
The $530,000 will double the breeding capacity at the Dundee lab, scheduled to reach about 300,000 wasps per month by the end of the year, once construction is completed next year, Smith said. It will also increase production at a smaller breeding facility in Gainesville.
The joint effort also will allow scientists in the three states to explore different ways for deploying the wasps to determine the most effective control methods, he added.
The money is the first funding by the Huanglongbing Multi-agency Coordination Group the USDA established in December to lead a federal effort against greening, also known by its Chinese name "huanglongbing" (HLB). USDA has also signed cooperative agreements with Florida Department of Agriculture and its counterparts in Texas and California to coordinate the greening fight, including setting priorities for federal spending.
The USDA has spent more than $300 million on research efforts to combat greening and other citrus pests and diseases in the past three years, the statement said.
As part of the federal effort, the Citrus Disease Subcommittee, an advisory board of the USDA's Specialty Crop Committee, will hold its first meeting on Monday and Tuesday in Washington to review past anti-greening research and recommend new directions. The nine-member committee includes five Florida representatives, including Matthew McLean, CEO and founder of Uncle Matt's Organics in Clermont and the fourth generation of a Polk County citrus-growing family.
"The USDA is clearly committed to partnering with the U.S. citrus industry to find solutions to an insidious disease known as citrus greening," said Andrew Meadows, a spokesman for Florida Citrus Mutual in Lakeland. "The Multi-agency Coordination program as well as the Farm Bill allocations will go a long way to ensure researchers have a dedicated source of funding. Our scientists are making headway and I am optimistic we will find something soon."
