Agricultural inspectors in California are reportedly increasing their pest detection efforts after Asian citrus psyllid, an insect responsible for spreading citrus greening disease in Florida and Brazil, was discovered in San Diego last week.
Officials have been warning about the pest’s potential impact on the US state’s €924m (US$1.2bn) citrus industry since it was first detected near the US-Mexico border in July, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Quarantine zones have been established around San Diego and in neighbouring counties, but fear is said to widespread in the region’s citrus sector that the pest’s advance north has been delayed rather than halted.
In a separate development, Florida’s citrus sector is reportedly assessing the damage caused to crops by three nights of freezing weather that struck the US state over the weekend.
Up to 70m citrus trees, as well as thousands of hectares of berries and vegetables, were said to have been potentially affected by temperatures that dropped as low as –6°C late last week, according to Florida’s department of agriculture.
“We do know we have damage,” Andrew Meadows, a spokesman for Florida Citrus Mutual, told the St Petersburg Times. “We just don’t know how much at this point.”
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